All right, well, we are continuing our way through the letter that Paul wrote to Titus
on the island of Crete.
For those of you who are visiting or haven't been here in a while,
we started a new series looking at this letter of Paul's.
Paul, of course, was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which means that he was a spokesperson sent by Christ to speak Christ's words to the churches
and to give them the instructions and guidance they needed
as they began to be established all over the Mediterranean world.
And Paul and Titus have been co-workers and partners in this work of proclaiming the gospel
to various places all around the Mediterranean Sea.
And one of those places was an island called Crete, which is just southeast of Greece.
And last week we heard about how Paul left Titus on that island.
And the reason was to put in order what was left unfinished.
And we saw that the main work that Titus was to do in each of the churches was to appoint elders.
He was to appoint leaders in the churches, men of good reputation,
men of godly character, men who had proven themselves at home with their families,
and men who were holding firmly to the word of God,
to the gospel, and to all the teaching from God that goes with it.
And as we heard last week, there were two reasons that they had to be men
who hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught.
First, so that they can encourage, exhort, instruct others by sound doctrine.
And second, so that they can refute or correct or expose those who oppose it.
Now, why is this so important?
Well, Paul is about to tell Titus.
Let me read it for us, starting in verse 9.
So an elder must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught,
so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception,
especially those of the circumcision group.
They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households
by teaching things they ought not to teach,
and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
One of Crete's own prophets has said it.
Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.
This saying is true.
Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith,
and will pay no attention to Jewish myths,
or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.
To the pure, all things are pure.
But to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.
In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him.
They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good.
So Paul tells us why it's so important to have qualified elders,
men who are holding firmly to the trustworthy message,
the gospel, the word of God.
This is important, he says, because there are many rebellious people.
The word here means insubordinate.
People who are not subject to authority,
but are ignoring it, or are even pushing back against it.
And these are not just like any of the people on Crete.
They are people who are amidst the churches,
among the church people on Crete.
People who are stirring up trouble,
and inciting others to go against the trustworthy teaching,
of Christ.
Paul says that these people are full of meaningless talk.
He's saying that their words are empty, irrelevant,
that they lack any real substantial value.
In fact, Paul says they are full of deception.
They are deceivers, misleading people.
Now just how aware of this, or intentional of this,
they are, we don't know.
But Paul gives us a little bit to understand the place that they're coming from.
He says, especially those of the circumcision group.
And that's a reference to some of these people being Jewish.
Some of these people who are insubordinate,
stirring up trouble, divisive.
They're Jews.
And they're not the sort of believing Jew that Paul is.
They're perhaps more like the Pharisees,
and the religious leaders in Israel.
They don't seem to be embracing the trustworthy message about Christ as Messiah.
Perhaps they were similar to the Judaizers,
who were infiltrating the churches in Galatia,
advocating that people must keep the law,
and be circumcised,
and live a good enough life to be accepted by God.
We don't know the full extent of their teaching.
But it's anti-Christ.
It's anti-Christian enough
that Paul says, in verse 11,
they must be silenced.
They're disrupting whole households
by teaching things they ought not to teach.
And that, for the sake of dishonest gain.
So this is a real problem there on the island of Crete.
There are deceptive, insubordinate,
some Jewish, some not, teachers,
and they are causing division and trouble in the churches.
And it seems they're even working some kind of scheme
to make money at this,
to make a profit off of this.
And Paul says to Titus,
you must silence them.
Rebuke them sharply.
Verse 13.
So if you can imagine yourself as Titus,
I mean, this is not an easy assignment.
Paul is basically saying,
you need to go toe-to-toe
with these influencers,
these teachers.
You need to silence them.
You need to call them to repent.
Down in verse 14,
Paul implies that they're teaching Jewish myth.
They're even giving commands.
They've kind of set themselves up as authorities.
And down in verse 14,
Paul says that these are merely human commands
of men who reject the truth.
So tell the people in the churches on the island of Crete
to pay no attention to those teachings.
And then in the midst of all this,
Paul quotes one of Crete's,
the island's own prophets,
in verse 12.
He says,
one of Crete's own prophets has said it.
Cretans are always liars,
evil brutes,
lazy gluttons.
This saying is true,
says Paul.
So evidently,
the people on this island,
in general,
were known for a few things.
They were known for being liars.
And not just a little,
but a lot.
Always liars.
So they were known for dishonesty,
cheating,
scamming,
swindling,
misleading.
That was the norm.
They were known for being evil brutes.
Quite literally,
evil beasts.
Or wicked animals.
Probably a nickname that they had earned
from their just deceptive
and downright malicious dealings
with each other
and with outsiders.
So these guys are not known
on this island
for being trustworthy,
for being kind.
And finally,
they were known for being lazy gluttons.
They were known for their idleness,
for being lazy,
not wanting to work
or put in any effort for anything.
And they were gluttons.
The picture we get here
is of people indulging to the max
in whatever cravings
or pleasures
they can get their hands on.
So I don't know
how many of you
have ever seen the movie
Pirates of the Caribbean.
If you've never seen it,
don't bother watching it.
But if you have seen it,
this sounds a lot like Tortuga,
that sort of pirate haven
or pit stop
where people are constantly,
you know,
swashbuckling each other
and double-crossing each other
and eating and drinking themselves
into a stupor,
spending themselves broke
and swindling others
out of their goods and money.
quite the reputation.
Cretans are always liars,
evil brutes,
lazy gluttons.
And Paul says,
this saying is true.
That basically sums it up.
Therefore, says Paul,
rebuke them sharply
so that they will be sound
in the faith
and will pay no attention
to Jewish myths
or to the merely human commands
of those who reject the truth.
And it seems that here
Paul has in view
both the false teachers
that he just mentioned
as well as those in the churches
who might listen to these people.
Rebuke them sharply,
says Paul.
And notice the goal
of that rebuke.
It isn't just to scold them
or to make them feel ashamed
or to get them to shut up
or smarten up.
No, it's a sharp rebuke
so that they will be sound
in the faith.
We're talking righteous rebuke.
We're talking restorative rebuke.
A rebuke that aims to see them
turn away from this
old way of living
that's so common around them
and turn to the way of Christ
and to the way that fits
with a faith in Jesus.
Well, as we consider
the culture of Crete,
if you were here last Sunday,
you can see there's quite
a contrast between
the requirements of the elders
and the leaders
up in verses 5 to 9
and the general conduct
of the people
that are all around them
on this island.
Elders, and as we said last week,
really, all mature believers
are to be trustworthy,
are to be faithful,
are to be honest,
are to be disciplined
and self-controlled
in the midst of a culture
that is not trustworthy,
that is deceitful,
that is wicked, lazy,
self-indulgent.
Let's continue on in verse 15.
Paul says,
To the pure,
all things are pure.
But to those who are corrupted
and do not believe,
nothing is pure.
This might be specifically pointed
at the circumcision group.
The Pharisees,
the ones who opposed Christ,
they were known
for their strict standards
of ritual cleanliness.
They were known
for all these ceremonial washings
that they did
because everything is unclean.
They would wash their hands
ceremonially,
maybe even sometimes
take a bath
to cleanse themselves
if they went
into the marketplace
because maybe some
of the spiritual filth
on the people
got onto me.
And Paul seems
to be refuting
that kind of mindset
with a little bit
of a gross exaggeration
to make a point.
He says,
To those who are corrupted
and do not believe,
nothing is pure.
But in reality,
he says,
To those who are pure,
to those who are truly pure,
washed clean by Christ,
all things are pure.
Now that doesn't mean
that sinful behaviors
become pure.
Of course not.
It means that all the good things
that God created
and has given to man
for his benefit
and his enjoyment
and his use,
all of those things are clean.
All of those things are pure.
All of those things are good.
By faith in the truth of God,
we who believe in Christ
and have been washed
and made pure,
we see the beauty
of those things,
the goodness of those things,
the benefit of those things.
Many man-made religions
have treated marriage
or sex
or certain kinds of food
or certain kinds of work
as though they are dirty
and defiling of a person.
But to those who belong to Christ
and have been made pure
through faith in him,
we see all these things
with a right perspective now.
All that man-made religiousness
is corrupt.
It's crooked.
Paul goes on.
He says,
They claim to know God,
but by their actions
they deny him.
They are detestable,
disobedient,
and unfit
for doing anything good.
This is a pretty scathing rebuke.
And it seems to refer
not to the true believers
in the church,
but to the false teachers
and to anyone else
who's causing trouble.
And it doesn't speak
to their future.
It doesn't predict
how they will respond
to this rebuke from Titus,
but it speaks to how
they are at present.
They are disobedient.
So not just spiritually apathetic,
but worse.
They're doing the opposite
of Christ's commands.
Paul says,
They are detestable.
This is a really strong word.
Abhorrent is basically a synonym.
That's quite a thing
to say about a person.
But right now,
they are doing abhorrent
and detestable things.
Deceiving families,
swindling them out of their money.
And finally,
Paul says,
They are unfit
for doing anything good.
Again,
another very strong statement.
At the least,
this means that these people
are disqualified
from serving in church leadership
and probably from any other role
in the church.
In their present state
of defiance and disbelief,
they're not only no benefit,
but they're dangerous.
They're damaging.
They're disruptive.
Nothing good
can come from them
unless they have a serious
change of heart
and repent.
But probably the clearest
and most startling statement
comes before all this
in verse 16.
They claim
to know God,
but by their actions,
they deny Him.
They claim to know God,
but by their actions,
they deny Him.
So these teachers,
these influencers
amidst the churches,
they're not the kind of people
who are promoting
other world religions.
They're not promoting
Greek gods
or Egyptian gods
or satanic worship
or atheism.
They're the kind of people
who claim
to know God,
the one true God.
They are professing believers
in God.
They say with their mouths,
I believe in God,
but,
says Paul,
by their actions,
they deny Him.
So with their mouths,
they're saying,
I believe in God,
but Paul says,
with their actions,
they're saying,
I don't believe in God.
You've heard the saying,
actions speak louder
than words.
Well,
this is kind of
a similar form of that.
There are people there
in Crete
whose actions
are speaking louder
than their words.
They're claiming
to know God,
and yet the way
they are living
betrays
that profession.
It shows it
to be false.
It's possible
to be a professing
believer in God,
but not be
a Christian.
Believing in Jesus,
as we often say here,
is enough.
It's all that it takes
to be saved.
That's the good news
of Christ.
He saves us
as a gift of grace
to us,
as we just mentioned earlier
during the prayer time.
All we do
to receive that gift
is believe.
believe.
And there are people
who truly believe
from their hearts.
And there are people
who say they believe,
but really do not.
Sometimes we call this
spurious faith.
Spurious means
not genuine,
not authentic.
It means that
it's a faith
that on the surface
looks true,
but at its root,
at its core,
it just lacks
the characteristics,
the qualities
of true faith.
And if you were here
with us
when we were working
through the gospel
of John
and going through that,
we ran into this kind
of spurious faith
a few times.
Jesus,
on more than one occasion,
exposed the spurious
faith of people
in Israel.
Many of them
claimed to believe
in God,
and yet just like
the people
in this passage,
they were denying him
by their actions.
They were saying,
we are children of God,
we are children
of Abraham.
And Jesus
was saying to them,
no,
you are of your father,
the devil.
That's from John
chapter 8.
Jesus exposed
their so-called faith
in God
for what it really was.
Empty words.
Some of these people
at the same time
were plotting
to murder Jesus.
They were filled
with greed
and pride
and covetousness.
They were hypocritical.
They were always
judging others
but never judging
themselves.
They were living
for the praise
of other people
but not
for the praise
of God.
Not only did we see
this in the religious
leaders but we saw
it even in the
followers of Jesus.
We saw that many
followed him around
and were quite
enamored
by him.
They liked the miracles
that he was doing.
They found the teaching
very interesting.
It tickled their fancy.
And yet,
they didn't believe
his words.
And when Jesus
started saying
some things
that weren't popular
or doing some things
that were getting
him into trouble
with the religious
leaders,
suddenly these
followers,
they just melted
away.
They disappeared.
Probably many of
them had been
baptized
and had been
saying,
I believe in Jesus.
I believe you're
the Messiah.
But then when
things grew difficult
or unpopular,
they quit following
Jesus.
Their spurious
faith was exposed.
These are the people
in Jesus' parable
of the sower,
if you know the
parable,
who receive the
word with joy.
Yes,
I believe.
But then in the
time of testing
or opposition
or difficulty,
their faith
withers
and they bear
no fruit.
Jesus says
it's because
they have
no root.
Their faith
is only
on the surface.
It's shallow.
it's up here
but it's not
in here.
Spurious faith
does not
save a person.
James makes
this quite clear
in his New Testament
letter.
James chapter 2.
James writes,
What good is it,
my brothers and
sisters,
if someone
claims to have
faith but has
no deeds?
Can such faith
save them?
Suppose a brother
or sister is
without clothes
and daily food.
If one of you
says to them,
Oh, go in peace,
keep warm,
and be well fed,
but does nothing
about their
physical needs,
what good is it?
In the same way,
faith by itself,
if it is not
accompanied by
action,
is dead.
But someone
will say,
You have faith,
I have deeds.
Show me your
faith without
deeds,
and I will
show you my
faith by
my deeds.
You believe
that there is
one God?
Good.
Even the demons
believe that
and shudder.
So a profession
of faith in God
or in Jesus,
it must be
weighed,
it must be
proved by
how a person
lives,
because how
we live
reveals
what we
really believe.
In the words
of Jesus,
you will know
them by
their fruit.
Jesus
said it this
way,
he said,
watch out
for false
prophets.
They come
to you in
sheep's clothing,
but inwardly
they are
ferocious
wolves.
By their
fruit,
you will
recognize
them.
Do people
pick grapes
from thorn
bushes,
or figs
from thistles?
Likewise,
every good
tree bears
good fruit,
but a bad
tree bears
bad fruit.
A good
tree cannot
bear bad
fruit,
and a bad
tree cannot
bear good
fruit.
Every tree
that does
not bear
good fruit
is cut
down and
thrown into
the fire.
Thus,
by their
fruit,
you will
recognize
them.
So this
is the
way,
says Paul,
to discern
false
teachers,
false
prophets.
Do their
actions,
does the
way that
they live
say,
yes,
Jesus is
Lord?
Do they
generally
obey his
commands and
seek to
do what
is pleasing
to Christ?
Or do
their actions,
does the
way they
live say,
no,
Jesus is
not really
the Lord?
does their
living match
their
profession?
Now,
this doesn't
mean that
true believers
never sin.
Of course
not.
When it
comes to
these things,
we're talking
about the
general pattern
of a
person's
life.
Is there
good fruit
growing,
or is it
bad fruit?
How does
this apply
to us?
Well,
these words
might be
helpful to
us in
understanding
that there's
a clear
contrast
between a
true believer
and an
unbeliever,
between a
Christian and
a person of
the world.
These words
might also be
helpful as we
seek to sift
through some
of the voices
that are
coming at us
in our
world,
especially those
who claim to
have discernment
and that we're
all missing out
on some
important
understanding
or teaching.
But before
we get to
examining others
and discerning
others,
God's word
is clear
that we must
first examine
ourselves.
Jesus said
it this way.
He said,
Why do you
look at the
speck of
sawdust in
your brother's
eye and
pay no
attention to
the plank
in your
own eye?
How can
you say to
your brother,
let me take
the speck out
of your eye
when all the
time there's
a plank in
your own
eye?
You hypocrite.
First,
take the
plank out of
your own
eye and
then you
will see
clearly to
remove the
speck from
your brother's
eye.
Before we
get to
examining and
discerning
others,
we must
first examine
ourselves.
Paul said
it this way
in his letter
to the church
at Rome.
He said,
If you're
convinced that
you are a
guide for
the blind,
a light for
those who
are in the
dark,
an instructor
of the
foolish,
a teacher
of little
children,
because you
have in the
law,
the embodiment
of knowledge
and truth,
you then,
who teach
others,
do you not
teach yourself?
You who
preach against
stealing,
do you
steal?
And Paul
goes on.
Again,
before we get
to examining
others,
we need to
first examine
ourselves.
Paul actually
says it
point blank
in his letter
to the
Corinthians.
He says
examine
yourselves
to see
whether you
are in
the faith.
Test
yourselves.
Do you
not realize
that Christ
Jesus is
in you?
Unless,
of course,
you fail
the test.
And this
is really
the invitation
of this
passage in
Titus,
isn't it?
Here are
these people
who are
claiming to
know God,
yet by their
actions they
are denying
him.
The invitation
here is
for each
of us,
to each
of us,
to look
at ourselves.
Am I
claiming to
know God?
Am I
claiming to
be a follower
of Jesus?
Do my
actions claim
that as
well?
If I
believe Christ
is the
king,
will I
not,
on the
whole,
in general,
as my
pattern,
obey,
his
commands?
Now,
sometimes I
know we
hear these
words,
take the
log out of
your own
eye and
examine
yourselves,
and we
may wonder,
well,
how do we
do that?
What does
it mean to
examine myself?
Do we
just pray and
ask God
about it?
Well,
I think that's
a good start,
but then what
do we do
after that?
Do we
wait for a
feeling of
confirmation
that we
pass the
test?
Christ?
The Bible
tells us that
God's spirit
does live
within his
people,
and that
his spirit
testifies with
our spirit
that we are
his children.
So yes,
there is an
inward feeling,
there is an
inward convincing
that's going on
in our hearts
if we belong
to Christ and
we have his
spirit in us.
But here's the
rub.
For those
who do not
really believe
in Christ,
they too
seem to have
some kind
of an
inward feeling,
an inward
convincing going
on in their
hearts too.
Somehow they
justify themselves.
They say,
yeah,
I believe.
I'm a good
person.
I'm okay
with God.
Feelings are
maybe not
especially reliable
in indicating
what the truth
of the matter
is.
Both the
believer
and the
unbeliever
feel they
pass the
test.
But the
Bible tells
us that we
will all
stand before
the judgment
seat of
Christ.
Romans 14
10,
2 Corinthians
5,
verse 10.
And what
will be the
basis?
What will be
the standard
by which we're
judged?
Is it by how
strong we
felt in our
relationship to
Jesus?
The answer
is no.
It will be
based on what
we did.
how we
lived.
What we
did, how
we lived,
that will be
the evidence
of whether
our faith
in Jesus
was genuine
or spurious.
What was
the fruit
of our
faith?
Was
ours a
true
living faith
with deeds,
good deeds
flowing out of
it, good fruit
coming from
it?
or was it
a dead
faith from
which nothing
good came?
Did we
receive the
word of God
with joy and
persevere and
bear fruit?
Or did we
receive it with
joy but then
fall away from
Christ and go
after the
chasing of our
own pleasures
and idols and
just kind of
wither spiritually?
This kind of
self-examination,
I mean it does
require prayer
but it also
requires us to
take a sober
look at our
daily lives
and whether or
not we're
living in
obedience to
Jesus.
Not perfectly
of course
but as the
general pattern.
if that's not
the case,
if you look at
your life and
you look at
the pages of
the Bible and
you see what
Jesus is
commanding and
you look at
your life and
you see that
that's out of
sync.
I'm not living
in obedience to
Jesus.
Maybe you
realize that
you're just
doing a
meager,
bare minimum
kind of
obedience to
Jesus just
to appease
your conscience.
If that's
you, let me
bring the
words of
Christ.
to bear on
you this
morning.
You are in
great danger.
You might be
able to fool
others around
you but you
can't fool
God.
The final
resting place
for those who
do not have
true faith
in Jesus,
the Bible
says is the
lake of fire.
Hell.
God's
God.
And it's
not just a
one-time
mention.
These are the
words of
God, the
words of
Christ again
and again
to us in
many different
places and
passages.
Jesus talked
about it.
How eternal
punishment is
the just
sentence that
we deserve
if we do
not from the
heart receive,
believe in
Jesus Christ
because all
of us have
sinned and
fall short of
God's glory.
The good
news is God
doesn't want
you to go
there.
He loves
you.
He's calling
you today, if
you haven't done
this already, to
repent and to
fully embrace
Jesus Christ,
the Savior,
that he has
provided.
God, maybe
you're here and
you know that
you don't
believe, at
least not deep
down in here
anyway, as
you should.
Maybe you feel
like you're on
the edge of a
cliff and
jumping off that
cliff and
surrendering your
life and your
heart to Jesus
almost feels like
suicide, feels
like death.
How could I do
that?
And maybe you
feel the, you
know, I'm just
going to back
away from the
edge.
I'm just going
to kind of go
back to the
safety and the
comforts of my
life and how
it's, how, the
way that I've
been living.
But maybe today,
this morning, you
hear King Jesus
calling you to
jump off the
cliff of faith.
Surrendering your
life to Jesus, it
does feel like a
kind of death to
yourself.
Jesus said so.
He said,
whoever wants to
be my disciple must
deny himself
and take up his
cross, that's
death, and
follow me.
For whoever
wants to save
their life, that's
back away from
the cliff, keep
doing what I've
been doing.
For whoever
wants to save
their life will
lose it, said
Jesus.
But whoever
loses their
life, that's
jumping off the
cliff of faith,
whoever loses
their life for me
and for the
gospel will save
it.
If you haven't
already done this,
I urge you, jump
off the cliff of
faith into the
loving arms of
Jesus.
He will catch you.
True belief in
Jesus, at least at
the beginning, at the
outset, it does feel
like a suicide.
It feels like a
death.
But it's the way to
find true life.
it's the way to
find that lasting
joy and peace and
hope and life that
you've been looking
for.
It's the way to have
your sins forgiven
and to enter into
that restored
relationship with a
Father in heaven who
loves you.
I hope and I pray
that when that final
day comes, not a
single one of us in
this room will have
this for our life
verse.
They claimed to
know God, but by
their actions, they
denied him.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, we
thank you for your
word.
And I know that it's
not sometimes what we
want to hear, that it's
sometimes hard words,
not the most pleasant
things to think about.
But we thank you that
you speak the truth to
us because you love
us.
And I pray that these
words would bear
great fruit in our
lives.
I pray that every one
of us would surrender
completely to you and
that our faith in you
would grow and that you
would turn our lives
upside down and change
us for the good that
you long to do in us
and for your own
glory.
Thank you for sending
Jesus to save us.
Thank you for your
Holy Spirit.
We commit ourselves to
you in his name.
Amen.