Titus 1:10-16

All right, so where did we leave off last week? What happened? What was Paul writing to Titus about? Oh no, it's been too long. Elders, there we go. All right, so Paul left off. He'd kind of given an outline to clarify for elders what requirements were there. We're going to go ahead and keep reading in chapter 1 of Titus from verses 10 through 16. I'm going to start in 7, just simply for continuity.

For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, but not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.

This testimony is true. For this reason, reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith. not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. Alright, so Paul took us through elders, and we went over that last week where he took Titus through elders, and so we got to also go through elders having this letter.

And then he says, for there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision. So as we go through the list of questions that I've got here, what are some of the problems that the world faces with rebellious people? who refuse to submit to authority.

Okay, not the church, the world. What are some of the problems in the world that are a consequence of this? Well, we've seen some with the Occupy Wall Street. Okay, but what's the consequence of that? Disorder and anarchy. crime and everything else. So you're telling me that rebellious people tend to bring chaos and disarray.

It doesn't make it better? They know better and so therefore because they know better everything gets better? That's not how that goes? That's highly unfortunate. If we look at this from several different angles, we have this protesters group with Occupy Wall Street, that's an example of that. What are some of the federal issues if they have people who are not cooperating inside the federal government?

What happens? Because that's a group within, and they're an extra organizational group. I don't know if that's the right proper term, but they're not within an organization that they're being rebellious. What happens in the world if you're in an organization? And we'll pick the government for the sake of ease. Stan? Well they self-satisfy instead of focus on God's truths and the best for the body or Okay. All right. So here's an example.

I think it was about a month ago I read that one of the guys who's in accounting for the San Francisco Giants baseball team was convicted of laundering money and he'd gotten about $2.2 million from the organization before he got caught. Laundering money well 2.2 million dollars in San Francisco isn't pretty much money because the cost of living is so high there But it sounds like a lot to me, but apparently if you live in San Francisco You can't buy a rundown house for a million dollars, so So so you had this person who rebelled and inside the company. It just wasn't the kind of rebellion that you're used to seeing. He was an example of somebody who would step outside the authority and not submitting to authority.

So it impacts leadership, it impacts the people around the person, and it impacts the people that might be watching the person from a subordinate level. So what are some of the problems the church faces with rebellious people who refuse to submit to authority? I know that's never happened to Holly Hills, but what happens if somebody decides that inside the church they're better or they don't want to submit to the direction of the leadership?

Stan? Okay, it goes back to the similar situation and the fact that this is many times what causes splits because they start thinking about their own motives. They don't like the color of the carpet. They don't like the doctrine that's being taught. They think they know better. They aren't submitting to the absolute truth of the scripture. Okay, so there's a lack of submission, but what does that end up doing in the body?

How does it impact other believers? Stymies growth. Okay, it stymies growth. Hurts their faith. Alright, does it ever lead to church splits? Okay, so you get things like church splits that come up. As an elder, what does that mean for the elders when that kind of thing happens? It probably varies.

We simply have to deal with it. It comes up in the next elders meeting, which is typically weekly. Okay, how are we going to deal with this? It is a matter of how are we going to deal with it and putting time there, which takes away from, you know, positive things that could be done. Yeah. So instead of being able to be constructive with that time, you have to be protective and deal with it other administrative duties in that time.

You have to be able to discern between constructive criticism or new ideas as opposed to things that are actually detrimental to the body. Sure. There are times when I have been exposed to new doctrine that I've not been aware of. It's biblical truth. You can look at it and subjectively I'm sorry, not subjectively. Objectively observe. Okay, here is this truth. It is a doctrine thing.

It's something that I've not been exposed to before and that's not rebellion. So there does need to be discernment in that context. Before Holly Hills, I really didn't understand identification and position and things that were there. I didn't come in and say, You know, whoa, this is new doctrine.

These people must be rebellious. I came in and said, well, I better make sure and check the word. And it turns out that I checked the word and it's really there. So it wasn't that this, you know, Holly Hills was trying to make some new Christian doctrine or new Christian theology that they're trying to spread. It's like, no, this has always been there, but you've just not been taught it.

So the rebellion definitely does require discernment. Is this rebellion or have you not been exposed to something? If I went into a church, and I have before, where they don't believe the same as I do And I just simply cite some Pauline doctrine talking about grace. Or I cite some Pauline doctrine that's talking about those things.

Leadership tends to cringe a little bit. And they don't want me to spread those ideas because they don't want me to incite a rebellion, if you will, where people might... This happened at Jessica's grandfather's church. This was about a decade ago now. And I went in and I talked about how to study the Bible. You observe, interpret, apply. I had 45 minutes and I just went over here. So a quick overview of Bible study, not complicated, easy to understand.

And I made the mistake of saying that the Old Testament was an accurate document out loud, even. and didn't just infer it, I said it explicitly. One of the elders of the church came to me afterwards and said I'd been taught lies and that any seminary worth their salt would never teach that the Old Testament was true. But he didn't want me spreading this idea that the Old Testament was true and reliable inside of his church because it would undermine his authority and lead to rebellion, which would be highly inconvenient. I immediately went home and suggested that Jessica's grandfather leave that church as fast as they could. They didn't, but I suggested it. So you've got to watch out for rebellion in that context.

So then Paul goes, we have these rebellious people, and then he says empty talkers. So the idea behind empty talkers in the Greek is that you have something that's void of content. It may be lots of words, but it really has no depth of meaning. So what is the problem of empty talk in our daily lives, inside and outside the church?

Stan? And gossip falls in that category. Okay, gossip falls in that category. What about 24-hour news stations? Conservative or liberal, you can pick whichever one you like. Have you ever noticed that you will, if you watch one of those, like I don't watch them normally, but it's like when I'm traveling to Texas they'll be on, CNN will be on the televisions at the airport. And they always put it right by the frontier gate. I fly frontier usually. So it's like I can't get away from it because if I get away from it I won't hear that my plane is boarding.

And you go on and there will be breaking news! Oh no, breaking news! And suddenly all the talking heads stop and then they start talking about the new thing that's breaking news. And it's been before where within 15 minutes there's another breaking news item. We didn't actually cover anything relevant to the past breaking news things but they have to talk. until the next thing comes up. And if they're lucky, they'll find a pundit who's quickly able to sweep in and have an opinion about a thing until the next thing comes up.

But it's empty talk. How does that impact the mind of either a secular person or a believer? What do you get from it? Nothing. I think about In our household, Jessica will sometimes use the term empty calories to describe certain foods. I could eat this, or I could eat this, and if I'm going to have empty calories, I'd rather have this, she'll say. She doesn't eat those things very often, but they are there.

What it ends up being is you get this empty talk, or this idle chatter, and it doesn't bring about growth. I know in my own life, I remember when we were in seminary, there were certain times when we would talk and debate a topic. We would spend hours and hours talking about one topic, or really going over it. And in the end, no real edification took place. Because it ended up being kind of like fencing. This empty debate, where in the end it was just not fruitful. I didn't grow, they didn't grow.

Like if you're talking about spiritual gifts with someone who's charismatic, you're almost guaranteed that they are lodged into their opinion, and you're lodged into your opinion, and you're really not going to get anywhere because they have their experience, and that's it.

Stan? I think it does accomplish something. It accomplishes confusion. Well, there you go. That's true. And seriously, there must be something there, because people are drawn to the feelings and the emotions that are stirred up by that type of presentation. And usually it's not the truth that's the focus there, but it's how it's presented, who presents it, and the fact that it's CNN, and it's a top news station, and all these other things that are worldly. And so people are drawn to that. And before long, it becomes their, you know, Their fullness. Yeah. But they have enough candy, if you will, enough sweetness to draw your taste for it. And you're like, oh, OK.

But that's one thing where since I only watch it at the airport, my exposure to it is pretty limited. It has never been on in my house. I don't even know if we have that channel. We might get it. I don't know. I'm going to guess we do. But it's literally never been on in my household. but they try to draw you in with some sort of argument, and there's two positions, and they want you to gravitate towards one. And then you're drawn in. Oh, I've got this position.

Let's hear what the other person says, because they're going to be wrong, I know it. And it's empty, because what they present to you is relativism. How useful is relativism morally? It has no place in the church whatsoever. Anyways, we should keep going for the sake of time, but this idea of empty talk that's devoid of truth, it's not good in our daily lives. Obviously, we kind of answered the second question, how could this impact the church body if it infiltrated the sheep? The sheep aren't getting fed. There's no growth. There's no edification.

What does the Holy Spirit lead us to? This isn't on the paper, but let's ask this question. What would the Holy Spirit lead the believer to? The Word. Truth. It's not empty. It's not devoid of all meaning and content. It has longevity in the life of the believer when the Holy Spirit leads to discussion in the body. You don't end up going, oh man, that's two hours of my life, I'll never get back. You don't walk away from edifying conversation as a believer with that. That's not the attitude of the believer. So then Paul talks about deceivers. Rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers. How can you know if someone is trying to deceive you?

And this is sort of an open-ended question because there are probably lots of different ways. Okay, but comparing it with the word is the right answer. That's really what I was after. So how would you be able to compare it with the word? What are some of the things that you need to be equipped to do? Hopefully those things are happening at Holly Hills. What tools do you need in your toolbox?

Discernment. Okay. So I would say knowledge is probably important. So, knowledge of the Word. Stan? I think it's honing of the gift of discernment. Honing the gift of discernment? It allows the Holy Spirit to work with your mind and your conscience. So, mental analytical skills to discern, but then also a sense of abiding, or not a sense of abiding, but abiding so that you would have the Holy Spirit enlightened in your own life, the truth, and contrast that to lies.

If we look at in this context that Paul is writing to Titus, how old is this church? How old is the church that Titus is at? It's pretty new. So they don't necessarily have all of the New Testament that had been written up to that time. Clearly they don't have all the New Testament. We don't know what all writings they might have had, but they have the Holy Spirit. They do have the Old Testament, which has quite a bit of revelation about things that are to come. It doesn't have all the mysteries. Obviously Paul was given the apostolic responsibility to reveal mysteries about the Gentiles and to minister to them. But there is plenty of truth that they have to compare it to. Let's ask this important question.

With just the Old Testament, can you prove to somebody who's a legalist that salvation is still not by the law? Or has never been by the law? Can you prove that by the Old Testament? I'm getting some nods. The answer is yes. The nods don't show up very well in the audio recording. Yeah, you can use the Old Testament to prove that God never intended for the law to save anyone, nor that salvation was ever by works from the Old Testament.

That's right, and Paul goes into that in Romans chapter 4. I don't know about the statistical percentages, but yeah, a major part of doctrine is is a comparable set of doctrines or principles that are there given with a fresh perspective tied to Christ as a fulfilled Messiah, not just a prophesied Messiah. So yeah, but the thing is that even as Paul's going to go and talk about what I'll say the Judaizers or the legalists that are trying to... Paul says they're deceiving. you can still use the Old Testament to draw out the truth that is there.

So these people are not left wanting. They're not left going, I have nothing in my toolbox. They have the Holy Spirit, and they do have the Old Testament, and they probably had some early church writings. And in this case, they have Titus, which is a pretty good resource. So the deceivers are there. In our own lives, are there deceivers that we have to deal with and combat? Again, some nods, yes, for the recording.

Now why, I have it on here, why does Paul worry about this so much from within the church? Why is he worried about this infiltrating and being inside the church? What I said earlier, it affects people's faith. It affects their belief in the new doctrine that's being presented through Paul. The old doctrine is always something that's easy to fall back on. So this is something that they truly need to have faith in, the new direction that they're going to go. I think the church is going to have a lot of new believers too.

So they're more susceptible to that kind of thing. So this isn't on the paper, but here's a question. What things should be taught to new believers so that they have what I will say using that analogy of faves having an immune system for theological error, something that can identify those things? That's a really open question. There's probably a broad number of answers. What would you teach?

So you'd start with Romans. I've always heard that a new believer should read John first. I don't personally hold to that necessarily. I'm just like, oh, you should read John first. Oh, okay. I just remember hearing that over and over again growing up. Oh, you're a new believer. Read John. The Gospel of John. I don't have any defense of that. I'm just throwing it out there.

How about major Bible themes? Would you say major Bible themes is a good place to start? How many of you have read or been through major Bible themes? Most. Some. Half. Major Bible themes they're doing downstairs. It's actually 52 lessons. So if you're a math calendar nerd, then you'll recognize you can do one a week. But it's 52 lessons to go over a lot of major doctrines going through the Bible. That's one option. I think what's really lacking in the church today is identification. Okay, identification. I think that is a really big...

That's what new believers ought to talk about. Yeah, I would have to say that a lot of the classes that Courtney and Mike have taught or retaught downstairs have been about identification truths, being about position and condition, and going over really good, important foundational doctrines that let the believer rest in who they are in Christ.

And so fundamentally, when a believer is a babe, The truth is that they need some of the milk. Why would Paul say the milk of the word? What is in milk when the baby is first being nursed? The basics. You have colostrum and these things that actually help build up the immune system. Paul wants the believer to grow quickly and then be able to start growing in the deeper, richer things.

That doesn't happen if you just show up to church on Sunday for the main service and never talk to other believers and don't establish yourself as part of the body. So that's way outside of this concept of deception. But how do you know if someone around you is being deceived? What would you have to have in your life and there with them to know that they're being deceived? You have to have knowledge of the truth. Okay, you have to have knowledge of the truth, but you have to know them.

This is an important element in all theology, is that almost no theology is individual. Even if it is directly applicable to the individual, there is a relationship aspect within the body that requires that you have to know somebody. Sometimes you have to know Christ. Sometimes you have to know other people. The body as a whole is part of an organism, if you will, that is deeper and more relational.

Deception of a babe is really easy, unless the babe has a parent. How many of you, if you had this baby in a stroller and you were responsible for that, or you're in a grocery store and you're in a shopping cart, if you saw a stranger come up and just start putting things in their hands, would be okay with that? Yeah, I'm seeing, again, more nods. For the record on the recording, no one thinks that's a good idea.

So the thing that's important here is that deception cannot happen if Titus is actively involved with the body, because he's going to be engaged. But he's not going to be engaged in some, like over the internet, I sent you an email way, he's going to be at your house. He's going to know you. The elders are going to be at your house, or you're going to be at their house, and you're going to know them. That's just as important today, even if you can get in a car and go to somebody's house, rather than just walk like they probably would have in Crete. So the relational aspect of this is really important.

So we have this issue of deception, Paul's worried about it from within the church, and then he says, he uses the term the circumcision, so we ask, who are the circumcision and what were their strategies in trying to sway the church towards legalism? We can look at the book of Galatians to see some details of that, but who are the circumcision? Easy, the Jews, alright. So what were their strategies? The law. Okay, the law. The law in what context?

Was it in the context that Moses had delivered it? No, but it was certainly not a grace operation. It wasn't a grace operation. Did Moses deliver the law in such a way that it would lead people with the intention of bondage? What was the purpose of the law? in the Old Testament, in Israel, in the Promised Land. To separate the Jews apart from the rest of the world, and it was given so that they would know what would bring blessing and what would bring curse, right? But it was given in a major part to show how to have a relationship with God. not just bondage.

Of course, Paul tells us that it leads in the flesh to bondage, right? It's not a surprise. But when the Jews came into the church, they'd pull out the law and say, here, have some bondage. And the believers needed to have discernment to know, hey, this isn't cool. When Paul writes to the church in Galatia, does he respond to that bondage gently? How gentle is Galatians, the book of Galatians?

He uses some pretty firm language. I know in my own life I would probably either err on the side of being too gentle, which is because I don't want to offend somebody. I would hate to scare them away. Or sometimes I lose my temper and I'm way over the top.

Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to get it just right. So he had the benefit of doing that. But the book of Galatians, he addresses that legalism very, very directly. So when we look at what Paul writes to Titus, he says, those of the circumcision who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain, they must be silenced.

Does that sound like tolerance? That's not an enduring tolerance. The world surrounds us with this idea of tolerance. Oh, you need to be tolerant. How about my favorite bumper sticker? Maybe you want to rear end people like I do. When you see that coexist bumper sticker, but the coexist is spelled with all the religious symbols. There have been so many times when I'm like, I'm glad I have the Holy Spirit. Because I would just rear-end that car. Just, wham! Sorry I wrecked your bumper sticker. I mean, I hit your car. Yeah.

My true feelings would come out. That co-existence thing drives me monkers. But Paul has just silenced these people. They've got to be quiet. This is error and it's really, really a problem. So Paul says, He talks about them disturbing whole families.

How would the legalist be able to disturb whole families? Why is that significant really, not how would they do it as much as what's the significance of disturbing an entire family? You're going to have division inside of a family, which is bad inside of a household. Certainly bad in the case of a husband and wife who are split in their position.

What is the church made up of? In many cases, it's families. When I came to Holly Hills, I had to slowly learn who was married to who, who had kids who were that person. We look at here and we've got Lots of families that are related. And doctrinal unity is important. Have you ever had disagreements doctrinally with other members of your family? It hurts. I've had that before in a number of ways. It hurts. Because you really want to have deep fellowship and intimacy with that person, but instead there's this thorn that is there, this doctrinal difference. So it's really a problem.

Now, Paul says that these legalists, he says in verse 11, they should not teach these things, but they are teaching these things for the sake of sordid gain, for selfish gain. What is the sordid gain of the legalist? What does he get? All the things that Christ was against in the Pharisees. He's looking for merit points, for brownie points, for merit badges. He wants to get another notch in his scroll.

My church is bigger than your church. There we go. My church is bigger than your church. That's really unfortunate. But the other thing is that he gets to say, I kept people in the Pharisaical, probably, ways. I did this. Builds up his own ego. Which is obviously not optimal. At least, I find that big egos aren't very helpful for a lot of things.

So Paul keeps going after this sordid gang and he moves into the Cretan culture itself. And then he quotes something, I always like Paul's blunt writing style because it makes me chuckle, but here he says, one of themselves, by themselves he's referring to a Cretan, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. And from what I had read, I don't know which prophet he was referring to. Maybe you have some knowledge of that, but I don't know from my looking that up. It was a prophet from about 500 BC. Okay. I don't recall the exact name. Epimenides. Epimenides, okay. I'm glad you guys have that. So this fellow says, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.

That's really not complimentary. I mean, although after Thanksgiving, maybe that feels a little bit more like it's closer to home, right? Lazy gluttons. After the turkey hits, you get the tryptophan and you start to go to sleep after eating a lot, maybe you can be a lazy glutton. But obviously being inside the church, these characteristics, you could say they'd be troublesome.

So if Titus is coming into this culture and he's preaching the gospel, and these people respond to the gospel, in part because they might recognize that this is true of them, that they're tending to be liars and equal beasts and lazy gluttons, Why is this a problem inside the church for Titus? Why does Paul write to Titus to be wary of these things? You can't perform having something like that just go on and on because it doesn't allow you Right, well it will bring about division and divisiveness. Right, so Paul is warning Titus because as a leader he is going to have to be aware of those things and he needs to be able to establish the foundation of the truth that is there so that they are growing on the proper things.

It's in Ephesus, right, where if you could steal something and get within 200 yards or a narrow shot of the temple, then it's yours. Which for me would mean that I would never have a shop anywhere near the temple. I would have the shop that's like out on the outskirts of town. Business is slower, but no one can ever make it to the temple.

They can never run that far. times, you know, as I look at this, probably the people of prominence, probably many of the people who maybe were wealthy, had charisma, that had maybe big businesses that were well-to-do, especially if they were Jewish and they were being rewarded with worldly business and worldly goods. They're prominent people. They're people that you could possibly be looking up to.

So if they're professing something other than faith. which happens so many times, you focus on people and not on spiritual things. Things that you can touch and feel instead of things that are inside. Sure, you have this sense of, oh that person must be doing the right thing because they've got stuff, they're blessed, God must be blessing them because they have things and I want to do that too. So I'll go learn from that person. Rather than Ephesians, you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. It's, oh, that person has things, they may have earthly blessings, therefore they must be...

This guy's a prophet. He's not a prophet of God. But in this case, he's going to actually verify the veracity of the other prophet in this one specific case where he's not actually saying the prophet is of God. This testimony is true. It's right. This guy did not miss the mark on this one. But then he says that because this is the case, he says, for this reason we approve them severely so that they may be sound in the faith. And the word is translated severely there? Does everybody have severely? Yes. Okay. Everybody's going for severely. And I always am a little hesitant to question anyone's interpretation. So I'm not suggesting that the interpretation is bad.

But one of the other nuances of the word is to imply a quickness. The Greek word where it says severely is a quickness. So if you see your kid irritating the other kid and you just let it go on for a really long time and then finally respond severely, the kid's like, well I got away with it 16 times, why are you jumping my case on the 17th? So, severely is not just necessarily this sense of like we're going to come in throwing punches or something, but the idea is also that it is a quick, strong addressing of the problem.

You're not going to mince any words, like Paul's writing to the Galatians. Some things in there, you would describe them as severe, right? I wish that person would mutilate themselves or I would that that person would mutilate themselves with a circumcision. That's kind of severe, right?

But the idea is that we're going to come in here and we're going to show the error of the ways strongly and quickly. What's the consequence if you've been corrected strongly and quickly for your long-term growth? You have two choices, you can rebel or you can change. Sure, you can rebel, but if it happens quickly, you don't find yourself dwelling and building a pattern of something that's there. If it happens after you've already built the pattern, that's at least psychologically the way the human body tends to work, a problem. I don't know, I've got this way of thinking and it's wrong. However, you have the Holy Spirit, which violates all the rules of psychology, which is a good thing. The Holy Spirit enables us to get past the weaknesses of the flesh. Through what process? How do we bypass the weakness of the flesh?

I'll accept any number of variations on the same answer. Reckoning, abiding, realizing that we were crucified with Christ, flesh no longer reigns in us. Any of those would be good. So Paul wants them to be addressed severely or reproved severely so that, but what's the outcome? So that they may be sound in faith. Not just so that Timothy's right. He wants him to address it.

And so what are some of the things he's concerned about these believers being distracted by? That they would not pay attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. Now what are Jewish myths? Any guesses or ideas, Stan? and the fact that certain people are of Abraham. So they have a greater position in the faith than people who are not.

Okay, so if you were inside the church and you were really distracted by the genealogies, that would be a real problem. I actually know some believers that are Jewish of descent and they're very concerned that they are of a certain line of of Israel. We know that this is the line we're from. That part of you that really could care about that died with Christ on the cross.

Okay, I don't happen to know really strongly every part of my family's heritage. My dad has always kind of joked that it's certain things and then some of this and some of this and some of this. Because there's a lot of different blood from a lot of different people that made babies and got carried down. But the part of me that could really care about that, whether or not I should have red hair and speak with an Irish brogue or something, don't care. Don't care, don't care. It's crucified with Christ. So Jewish mythology, an important thing to be avoiding, not to be holding on to. How about commandments of men who turn away from the truth? What kind of commandments of men who turn away from the truth? Or that would turn you away from the truth? What are those things? Stan?

A personal example is when you go to a church and the people in power say that you must listen to us because we are your leaders. Even though it implies that in Hebrews, it doesn't mean it from the standpoint of yielding to them as a father or as a spiritual Because you have direct access with God, you don't have to go through anyone else. So if you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Colossians 2, verses 16 and 17. Paul is writing there and he says, Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come. But the substance belongs to Christ. Commandments that lead away from the truth are going to trivialize or make really big things that ought not to be trivialized, or things that ought not to be made big. If Christ becomes the second priority, that's a problem.

When I look at my own life, I remember I cornered my brother, probably on multiple occasions, but I remember one in particular, by the bathroom, and I was really concerned he was listening to secular music. you're listening, I can't even remember what radio station it was, it was of no consequence really, but I just was really getting on his case that, oh, you shouldn't listen to the secular music.

Jessica also got a little bit of this from me too. She's smiling. You should only listen to Christian music. Always only. Listen to Christian music. because it's the righteous music, it's the good music, it will make you a better person, a better Christian.

And I can't remember which Bible passage I took out of context to really force this, but it burned part of my relationship with my brother when we were teenagers. It damaged it, because I had brought about some commandments which were not from the truth. I don't know how much my dad was aware of this, although I'm sure he was probably aware of a number of ways I tormented my brother.

But these things are there. There's no substance. Where did the substance need to be? Instead of being really concerned about the music, how about having a conversation? Then the music goes to the background. We could have a conversation about heavenly things. Then the music is in the background. Then it doesn't matter.

Later on in seminary I had a counter-argument with somebody where they said that if it was Christian music but it was too much like rock and roll, or was Christian rock and roll, then that was from the devil. And so then I argued with that guy and he didn't seem to understand. He said, if it brings pleasure to you, then it must be wrong. Which is a whole other issue. I will not go into the full rabbit trail of what that is, but I found that music is really divisive, but that's not the thing. That's not the thing with substance. Where's the substance? Or where should the substance be? Christ. Alright, getting back to Titus, so we can wrap this up.

So Paul writes, to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. Paul wrote something similar to Timothy, but what does he mean here? To the pure all things are pure, or all things are lawful. That's what he wrote in Timothy. Why is to the pure all things are pure?

Again, it goes back to the identification truths of positional and conditional. If you're saved, you're saved, and the things that you do wrong, as I understand it, goes against the reward system and doesn't go against your salvation. You're justified. And the doctrine of justification has many implications, but one of them is that even if you make the worst decision possible, That worst decision possible is covered in the blood of Christ and marked as the righteousness of Christ instead of the folly of man. I think we had that visitor one week who was really upset that I said that. It's an important doctrine.

To the pure, all things are pure. To those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Why is it that nothing is pure? How about, you've heard, non-Christians can do good things, right? But is the goodness of the right motive? And that's where it comes down to. They're not enabled by the Holy Spirit to live out a righteous life with righteous acts. And the difficulty of that is that in our minds we want to say, yeah, but it's still a good thing. Right? I mean, at least for me, that's where my mind goes. It's still a good thing. Hey, you brought the person water, you helped the person cross the street, you did a good thing, it was the right thing to do. But it wasn't motivated by the life of Christ. And why is it that it wasn't motivated by Christ? He says in the last half of this verse, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. Now, he's just spoken about legalism in the Jews. They would really understand this principle of being defiled. Because they wanted to stay away from the defiled things. Like bacon. Terrible, terrible defiling things. Stay away from the bacon. But he says their mind is defiled and their conscience is defiled.

What's the significance of a defiled mind? Surely it's not a stamp. Because it's unclaimed to me that the Holy Spirit has not been there to manage to instill the mind of Christ so you know the truth. A defiled mind is separated from God. A defiled mind has been there.

And the same thing could be said of a conscience. But even worse for the conscience, what is a defiled conscience? A defiled mind may not think clearly. A defiled conscience doesn't care. How many times do you compromise when you're doing something with a defiled conscience?

Without regret. Routinely. This is the reason why Paul can write in Romans 1, I'll just flip back there if you're Romans 1. Romans 1.18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. A defiled conscience doesn't really care if you're suppressing the truth. Oh, I'll participate in perjury. That's okay. I'll lie to the court. My conscience doesn't care.

I don't think they notice the difference. They don't notice that they're on track. The distinction doesn't exist. It's all gray scale between really bad sin and really light sin. It's a significant difference to those who understand righteousness, but in this case, they're seared.

They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. Now, this is where we really have to watch ourselves. Is Paul writing about us having a new measuring stick to measure how righteous a believer is? I can read right here that you say you know God, but by your deeds I see you're denying him. You're not saved. Is that what Paul is equipping Titus and believers with? He's not.

Who is he writing about? We better know who he's writing about or else that's the conclusion one can draw. Is he writing about the legalists and the religious cretins? Or is he writing about believers inside the church? It's an important distinction. We better know who they are when he says they.

I think they're being physically inside the church. They're evidently able to influence the members. Okay. They confess to know God because that way they have more influence. Okay. I'm not even sure that they're inside the church, but they definitely have influence with the believers in the church. And that is significant enough as it is.

Titus is being warned about them one way or the other. Hey, watch out. These people are doing deceptive things. in their speech, and they're leading these people astray. Are you saying that these are not believers? Paul's saying these are not believers. Or I believe that Paul's saying they're not believers. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him.

Well, wait a minute. This is in the context of the defiled unbelieving. So I would say that he's referring to the defiled unbelieving, who are not the pure. Well, professing is a claim that, in the context, is not supported. Also, knowing God, that's a believer. So they profess to know God, but it's a profession that doesn't bear out. Stan? Isn't it the same thing with most cultic religions? I mean, you take the truth and you twist it, whether you're practicing Gnosticism or whether you're practicing Legalism or Mormonism or...

I mean, you're saying that you believe in God. I mean, when 9-11 happened, look at all the people that were in that chapel. I mean, I was amazed at the faces that were there. And two weeks later, they're afraid of God, they know there's a God, but do they understand the truth of who God is? A lot of people say, I believe in God, but they sure don't believe in Jesus Christ. So there's an importance here that we have these people that are not believers in the first place, and they claim a religiousness, but they have rejected the truth that's there. They're defiled, they cannot do good deeds. they're incapable of doing godly good deeds inspired by the Holy Spirit because they're not fulfilled by the Holy Spirit.

So Paul's warning Titus about these people because they will be ones that are influencing the culture around his flock in Crete. So the last question I've got on the page here is if you've already, if you're Paul, put yourself in Paul's shoes for just a moment. and ask, you know, you've addressed Titus, you've addressed elders, you've addressed the Judaizers, what would you go to next? Now, some of you probably already know where we're going next in the doctrine. What would you reach next doctrinally after having approached the secular influence of the world?

Okay, you're going to go to the truth. That's a good answer. Titus is going to go to the relationship between older men and younger men and older women and younger women. Because he wants to make sure that this stuff gets passed on inside of households. So we'll see how this goes next, but my dad's going to get to teach that.

Let's close in prayer. Folks who are getting ready to come in or have already done so. Heavenly Father, we just pray that you would draw the truths that are here to our attention and have those things be in our minds. Lord, I just pray that you'd give wisdom and guidance to us as we look for those around us, making sure that they are not rebellious or full of empty talk or deceivers, but instead, as believers, we would surround ourselves with godly truth and be the pure, as Paul wrote about there. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.