Cont'd

We have this handout, which if you were here last week, you recall, it's the same handout for two weeks. That's not too confusing. So the one that's there, if you don't happen to have a copy, we do have a few additional copies to go with. We're in Titus chapter 2, and in this handout, we are about in the middle of page 2. Page 2 there on the flip side. copied two-sided here.

And we were talking about, because we had taken a brief excursion to the last page, which is a color handout, there are two words used in the New Testament, imitating and examples. And so those are related words and sometimes, in a couple instances, imitation and example are used in the same passage or the same verse even. So right in the middle of page two there, we have, what is the value of imitating and having examples in the body of Christ? What's the value of imitating and having examples in the body of Christ? we're getting off track in our focus or something. Okay, so looking at imitation and examples as sort of a, oh, a reminder. Oh, that's what that looks like, right?

One of the things, a few weeks ago I was teaching at a marriage seminar over in Potter Valley, California, northern California. And as soon as the seminar was over, a couple came up and the husband was asking, well, you know, what if I didn't grow up in a household where I have good examples? And what I told him is I said, almost every Christian in some regard, even from coming from a good home, will have places where there's a blank.

How do I do this? Right? You encounter, sometimes just because you encounter different situations. I just don't have the resources for this. There may also be instances where people have in their past, maybe they know it's a bad example, but they don't know what a good example looks like.

In either case, whether there's a blank or whether you can look at it and say, well, I didn't grow up with that example. In either case, There are three things that we can use to fill in the blanks where we don't have an example to work with or to replace a bad example. Those three things are the Word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, and this one we're looking at here, the principle of imitation and examples in the body of Christ. So those three things are, and that's what I told the couple, I said those three things are the way that you go about either filling in the blanks where you don't have an example for, again it may not just be a flaw in the background, you may have just come into a different situation than you have any background for. So, that's what I told them, and that's what Nancy and I also will tell people in counseling situations, because we encounter it a lot.

Alright, now, next question. How is this different from faking it and just acting? It's a lot harder to act. It's a lot harder to act, yeah. To maintain the act. Okay, to keep the act up, right? Act like a Christian. There gets to be a place where the consistency isn't there because it's not real from inside.

Anthony Hopkins did a great job of playing C.S. Lewis. He did a movie where he played C.S. Lewis and he talked about praying. Frankly, he did a wonderful job. I think it was all very good acting. because he did other movies that I would in no wise recommend. A lot of them that I would not recommend. However, that being the case, I think it underscores the point.

God is not saying that we ought to be just actors and actresses. That's not the intent. The intent is that we be learning spiritually what's behind this example that I see. As Nancy asked our kids one time when they were all at home, she said, can you kids tell the difference when I'm walking with the Lord and when I'm not? And so she was asking them not just do what I do, or do what I do some of the time, or something like that, but where's the dependence? Where's the spiritual dependence? That was the focus. I think her question was a good one. I could ask you the same thing about myself. We don't have time for that. Okay.

What's the value in Paul's words like? So that the word of God will not be dishonored and beyond reproach so that the opponent will be put to shame having nothing bad to say about us. What's his point there? Why would he say such things? And if you need to go back to the passage, it's actually at the bottom of page one. Feel free to do so. But why would Paul say things like that? So that the word of God will not be dishonored and beyond reproach so that the opponent will be put to shame having nothing bad to say about us.

Yes, but... Walk the walk and talk the talk, yes. By the way, do you ever hear anybody say anything bad about Christians? Plenty, right? Let's ask this question. What bad things do Christians say? And by the way, excuse me, what do people say about Christians that they say is bad? And keep the language cool and clean here. Oh yeah, and you have everything from praising him to cursing him.

Yeah. I noticed the cameras switch away real quick at the end of the game. Anyway, yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah. You're hypocrites. Okay. Is there any substance to that? Yeah, sometimes there is. Yep. Can be. Alright. But they generalize. Pardon? But they generalize. Yes, they generalize. People will generalize. Yeah. Okay. Any other things you hear? Judgmental. Christians are very judgmental. Yeah.

And what's interesting is often that's an assumption. Nancy and I have a relative at one point in time, this relative, we were talking on the phone and this relative just got rather emotional, and you guys are judging me. And we said, oh, that's interesting. Can you talk to us about that? And it turned out it was just an assumption. There wasn't any substance to it. So that's interesting. She may well have had some other experience where that was true and sort of transferred the assumption onto us.

But yeah, it's possible Christians can be judgmental, and in fact some are, and some are horribly so. Yes? You're talking about the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And in fact, the Pharisees were the cultural heroes. They were like, these are the good guys. These are the good guys. And yet, Jesus said, whoop, not so fast. Yes?

In being judgmental, I think that's an easy way out for people when you don't agree with something that they're saying or doing. And then they think, well, you're just judgmental. Just giving your opinion. Just giving your opinion of the situation. If you don't agree, you're judgmental.

I have a pain point on this. There was a lot of talk about it. These people are the normative and disabled nature, which we use to say something. Somebody tells us a story, we turn it over, we tell them. We tweak it. Passing information along with little tweaks and additions. Yep. Yep. Okay. Yeah, that's possible.

Anything else? Other thoughts? What Paul is saying here is that these various things we've just talked about, certainly people will distort things and people will make generalizations, but what he's saying is that there ought not to be the hypocrisy, that there ought not to be the judgmentalism and that kind of thing, so that the unbelievers have nothing to throw at them where the charge will stick. There's no substance to it.

Now, while we talk on the one hand about not giving the unbelievers material, to accuse us of. We're in the middle of page 2, for those of you who just joined us here. In the middle of page 2, we're right above the quote of Titus 2, 9 and 10. About two-thirds of the way down on page 2. So the last bulleted question, how is this different from just trying to superficially impress people? Our Christians, it's your job to just go around and try to impress people.

No, and what's the difference? What's the difference between not being hypocritical, not being judgmental, not having accusations that will stick, and just going around trying to impress people? Stan? I think it's not to use our condition as an excuse, but to truly focus on the position and on things above.

So if I understand you right, a part of it, we're not going around just trying to impress people, but we can live openly and pointing to the spiritual source. We as all people should know how bad the condition is. So we can make every effort. not to be bowed or yoked to this condition, but to be yoked to the condition above. So, it goes back to this is not an acting job. We're not here to just say, boy, that fellow is a good actor, right?

But in fact, there needs to be spiritual depth and spiritual reality. Okay, let's move on to Titus 2, 9 and 10, and I'll read the passage here, then we'll move to the questions. I urge bond slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything and be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn, the Greek word there is actually kosmos, we get the word cosmetics from that, so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect. Isn't that interesting? So why doesn't Paul try to rid the society of slavery? Was Paul pro-slavery or what's he doing here? That wasn't the ministry that God gave him. So should Christians promote or oppose slavery?

Oh boy. Stan. Additionally, I think Paul understood, like most of the prophets understood, if they read Daniel, they knew that God puts certain governments in charge. They have dominion. Those governments, however they perform it, whatever their beliefs and their cultural practices are, are going to predominate the society at that point in time. Paul knew that Rome would be the governing principality or the governing government at that particular point in time, and their beliefs were slavery.

He was not going to change that. you know, said what he said here, why didn't Paul go and say, you know, if you've got slaves, let them free. If you're a master, that's enough. Why didn't he tell, I mean, he had apostolic authority. Why didn't he go in and say that? It wasn't Roman policy. It wasn't Roman policy, right?

Okay. Believers are slaves. Pardon? In fact, the system of slavery is used in the language of the New Testament, not just in places like this, but 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Corinthians 7. You are not your own, you are bought with a price. Very interesting. There is a sense in which the language of slavery is used as a spiritual analogy. So is Paul encouraging slavery when he says this? No, he's not. For one thing, slavery itself, for some slaves, it was actually to their advantage.

And that's something that we oftentimes don't see. Pat? Ah, okay. Is it obedience? A bond servant is more than just a slave. Okay. Almost like a family member. Yeah, a bond servant is someone who has intentionally placed themselves in slavery as opposed to someone who says, I got captured or I was born this way or something. So, a difference. Encouraging obedience to almost be like a parent. Be like a...

I would also say that in 1 Corinthians 7, he says, if you can get your freedom, get it. So that's another thing. He opts for a preference for freedom. So while he doesn't go and try to combat the system of master and slave, what he says is, if you can get your freedom, get it. But if you're a master, don't be abusive and don't be harmful in your relationship there. If you're a slave, and that's what he's talking about here, don't be pilfering. Don't be doing one thing and not another. Yes, Dan? that didn't have slavery?

Yeah, I mean, there have been societies, however, major empires and cultures in the Middle East, North Africa, at that time, yeah, slavery was a part of it. And slavery is still in existence now, not exclusively, but mostly in the Islamic world. So that's, yeah, that's still present in various parts of Islam. Okay, let's take a look there. In view of the presence of this passage in scripture, shouldn't we try to re-institute slavery in our own culture? I mean, after all, you know, urge bond slaves to be subject to their own masters. Are you a bond slave? Are you a master?

Well, maybe we need to have that, right? Is that what he means? What's that? Reduce unemployment. Yeah, it might. Pardon? Reduce panhandling. Yes, reduce panhandling. Hey, I'll buy you, right? Yeah, I'll put you to work too. Is that really what Paul's saying?

No, I don't believe it is because he does say opt for freedom, right, in 1 Corinthians 7. What he's saying is here is the system To the extent that it's present, do it in a Christian way. Right? But it doesn't say, well, we've got to have bond slaves and masters. That's not the point.

Do it in a Christian way. Masters carry out your position as master in a Christian way. Those of you who are bond slaves carry it out in a Christian way. Not with the ethics of pilfering and backbiting and only working when you're in front of them. Right? In front of the master. Which parts of the above passage are stated positively and which are stated negatively? Why are the negative statements there? So it says, urge bond slaves to be subject to their own masters and everything, to be well-pleasing. Is that positive so far? Yes. Not argumentative, not pilfering. There's the negative part, right?

And why does he state things positively and negatively? Why is there a value in doing both? I think it goes back to what you said many times, and that has to do with the principle. There's a way to live, and if there's a way to live, then to describe that a lot of times you need to use contrasting. arguments to show that.

Yes. One of the reasons why we're going through the series in the main service and have been for over a year now on Law and Grace is because we look at law to help us understand grace. Right? We look at law to help us understand grace. One of the reasons why we spend the time on it is, you're right Stan, the contrast is helpful. It helps us to have a positive statement, but it also helps us to say, not this, not that, right? By stating positively what it is and then stating the opposite, the contrast, it gives us a clearer understanding. Okay, now let's take a look at the next one down.

Should we shun a focus on doctrine in the church? Why or why not? I mean, Nancy was talking to a Christian neighbor just a few months ago, when it was hot, right? A few months ago, and this Christian neighbor was saying, oh, doctrine, oh, we've just got to forget it. So, should we focus on doctrine or not? Is doctrine a problem? I think it's important. You think it's important? Isn't it an important problem? No, I don't think it's a problem.

I think we need it so we know who we are and where we stand. You know, some of the questions that the Bible answers, who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Those kinds of questions are kind of basic questions and they need to be answered, don't they? That's really what doctrine is. It's who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?

That's what it is. Now you can think of it as some dry, dusty stuff with, you know, print on a paper and the dust just comes off in billows. It's not intended to be spiritual data. It's a description of life and reality. Another hand was up here. I was thinking about giving a passage in Ephesians 4, and I know it's about gifting, He's talking about the perfecting of the saints for the Roman ministry, for the edifying of the body, and so we come to unity of the faith, and also that we will not be tossed to and fro in a passage called...

Ephesians 4.14 is the one that talks, it actually uses Gnostical terms at first, not being tossed to and fro like a ship that's just being... beat by the waves and the wind. So we need to focus on the whole. Yeah. The doctrine is there for positive purposes. The doctrine is also to avoid this being whipped about.

The next analogy that Paul uses, he actually uses the word for trick dice. That you won't get caught in spiritual matters by these people with trick dice. Loaded dice. And you know, archaeologists have actually found them. Loaded dice. Dice that are weighted so that they tend to come out a certain way. Dice that have the same number on different sides. And he actually uses that term.

So doctrine is to actually be useful and it has an intent and a direction And it's also to avoid the problems, this sort of seasick phenomenon and being taken advantage of. So doctrine has a definite place. As a matter of fact, between 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, doctrine, teaching, instruction, those words are used over 50 times. Between those fairly short books, yes. Yeah, in other words, ultimately, it's scripture contains doctrine. Okay? Doctrine is not just empty words on a page, but it's describing reality. Describes reality.

Yeah, they won't... I don't want to put up with it. I don't want to hear it. And we're there now. Yeah, we're at a place in our culture where people are just pushing back hard. They won't endure it. You cannot have that manger scene there, we'll sue. I do not want to go into the store and hear about Jesus being born and Him being our Savior. People don't want to hear it. Okay.

Now, next bullet down, are the words, so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect, similar to, so that the word of God will not be dishonored, and beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame having nothing bad to say about us. So what do you think? Is that similar in spirit and intent? So that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect. I think it all holds together. Okay, yeah. Interesting, this word cosmos, it says it makes it look good. I'm not talking about just superficially, but having a good appearance. You know what makes the doctrine of God appear good?

Slaves. Slaves that aren't pill-free. slaves that aren't backtalking the masters. Now, we taught through a similar kind of passage in Ephesians chapter 6, and one of the things we pointed out is that as believers, we're not a part of a slavery system and master system at all, but do we not have multiple authorities?

And it can be everything from our federal government to state government to, you know, county and city. Even if you walk into a store, do you not walk into, you know, we have these rules and these policies and this is the way we do things? Right? So the reality is there are a number of situations that we go through every day. I mean, Nancy and I live in Aurora. We come to Denver. You know, the driving and everything is according to Denver rules, right? If they've got different rules, that's the way it is. So we go through areas and just by driving or walking into a store, we step into different authorities, don't we? You have to wear a shirt and shoes. Yeah. No shirt, no shoes, no service, right? I guess not having any pants is okay, right? Okay. Yeah.

So, why does Paul keep harping on how things look to others outside the church? Here in chapter 2, he's done it three times now. Yes? Well, I think a simple example of that would be Christ is the foundation, and the building is made up of people. So he's an apostle preaching the foundation and building the building, which means the people outside the church.

And we're always looking for ammunition to discredit the cause of Christ. And why is that? Why aren't people just saying, you know, boy, these Christians, you know, yeah, they stumble, but, you know, in general, they're pretty decent folk. Why is it that people are looking for ammunition? Love sin. Pardon? They love sin, alright, and you're right about that.

Why else? And you're correct, but why else? Yes? Jeremiah 17. Okay. The heart is desperate. Okay. There's wickedness in the heart, alright, and why else? To justify their own position. Ah. You see, here's the thing. My life as a Christian says something about how they ought to believe and live, right?

And so, if my life implies that this is the truth, if my life implies that this is genuine, the implication to the unbeliever is that he ought to believe it too. The implication to the unbeliever is that his life ought also to be lived out differently.

And so, because of what that means, they resist it. I don't want that because If what you're saying is true, then that implies things for me, and I don't want to believe it. I don't want to have my life changed. As Dean put it, I like my sin, and I would rather keep my sin, right? So for believers to actually live consistently and not give the unbelievers any ammunition, that bothers them.

Now they have to cook something up. Right? Yes. And I think that probably goes to what is the meaning of suffering. Because you see people, to me, I look back at Columbine, you can see the people that are Christians and the people that weren't. And you could tell the difference? You could tell the difference. You could also tell when it was an acting job and when it was real.

And so, when somebody comes out of a suffering situation, and it's exactly showing the love of Christ, that makes it real. People say, gosh, if I went through suffering like that, would I be able to do that? It's kind of like the semicolon of life. Do people see a difference? in the way we go through things. They always see. They don't always want to admit, but they see.

I remember one time I was on a flight in one of the smaller planes, you know, the prop planes, coming from Palm Springs to San Francisco. And it was in the middle of a horrible storm. And the plane was fairly small, and it was bouncing around, you know, a whole bunch. And I was talking, I'd been at a conference, And I was talking to another person who had been at the conference, sitting just to my right. And things got so bouncy and stormy and everything that almost everybody on the plane was noticeably disturbed. Many people were screaming.

And this person to my right looks over and says, why aren't you screaming? The Lord's going to do whatever He does, and my screaming isn't going to change the future of this plane. So noticing a difference, and of course then the next implication is, I'm not screaming because I know the Lord's got this in control. And whatever's going to happen is going to happen. He's got a good purpose for however this turns out.

I'm not sure she wanted to ask the next question. Let's turn to page 3, Titus 2, 11-14. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Do you remember how I said just a few minutes ago, Doctrine answers questions like, who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Did this passage we just read, does it tell you who am I? Does it tell you where I come from, what's the past, and does it tell us where we're going?

I think so. In terms of the past, what's the important part of the past here? What Christ did. The future. I have a blessed hope. I have a blessed hope, and it impacts me right now. So one of the things that's interesting, going through that, you could say, what's past, what's present, and what's future?

And he addresses all three of those in this passage. Okay, let's take a look. I want to point out here, the words, our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, are in a construction in the Greek text that says that God and our Savior Jesus Christ are one and the same. They are one the same. So, how has the grace of God appeared? What does he mean by that? Yes? Okay, can you tell me briefly how that, because this is kind of important to a lot of people. Yes. How does the grief show that God and Christ are the same? What this is, I'll give you the technical stuff briefly.

A fellow by the name of Granville Sharp, who is a British fellow, There's a whole lot more to that story. A British fellow, but towards the end of the 1700s, published what's called the Granville Sharp Rule. And what he said is if I have two single personal nouns preceded by a definite article and joined with and in English, that those two things are the same.

Two singular personal nouns. preceded by a definite article, the, or the equivalent in Greek, and connected with an and, that those two things are the same. Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, are the same. They're personal, right? They're singular, right?

There's a definite article, Proceeding this in the Greek and they're connected by the word and okay, so that's the Granville Sharpe rule and in quick You know summary there are about 80 of them in the New Testament and not all most of those Identify Christ as being God The deity of Christ is expressed by that, okay So how is the grace of God appeared?

How has the grace of God appeared? Jesus came and offered himself as a perfect sacrifice. Now what's interesting is, I could put it this way, who is the grace of God? Jesus. Yeah, Jesus Christ is the grace of God and it is he who appeared, right? So Paul's testifying to that historical fact.

Bringing salvation to all men. Ah, oh boy. So, verse 11, does that mean everybody's going to be saved? Bringing salvation to all men. Everybody's saved, right? Is that the way it works? Why do you write it that way? No, it's not everybody's going to be saved. It's universally available.

Ah, everyone who believes. Whosoever believes. Right? Whosoever believes. So, it's universally available. So I can go over to Uganda, as I have a few times now in the last few years, I can go to Uganda and tell the people there that, yeah, you can be saved, you just have to believe that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again. Do you believe it? Yeah. And I can tell them that, and I can tell the people in London on the way home, I can tell people everywhere I go, it's universally available. That's what he means, not that everyone is safe. Okay. Next bullet. What parts of the above passage are focused on the past, the present, and the future? What part of it do you think is past? And there's more than one, by the way. He has appeared. He has appeared. Past tense. Okay. He has appeared.

Okay. at verse 14, who gave himself for us to redeem us, by the way that word redeem is one of the slavery words, to buy us out of every lawless deed. He not only buys us, he buys us for the sake of our actions. Now the next one down there, with all of the emphasis on works, deeds, is Paul teaching a doctrine of good works. By focusing on deeds and mentioning that, is he teaching good works?

Yes. It goes back to what you said earlier, not focusing on the condition, but using the condition as a contrast to how you're supposed to live. Okay. And it goes back to the principle. Alright. Principle is a fundamental truth. Right? Yeah. Why is he focusing on good works? Is that so you can be saved? He focuses on the good works because you're saved, not in order to be. That's the difference. So he is teaching a doctrine of good works. He is teaching a doctrine of works, but it's not in order to be saved. He's teaching a doctrine of good works because you're saved. Big difference. Yes? You said two minutes ago that He brought us for the sake of our actions. Yeah, notice he bought us to redeem us so that actions would come out as a part of the process. Good works would be the result, but we do not work to get bought. Right?

How would you like it Okay, this is the Christmas time of year, right? And so people as tradition, hasn't always been the case, but people as a tradition often give presents at Christmas time. How would you like to get a present and then get an invoice with it? Yeah, it's not a present. You know, look, I bought you a new car. Here's the bill. Yeah, in other words, a gift, a present is not there so that you can owe it. It is a gift. This is a gift. I don't expect anything in return.

Right? You don't give presents along with the invoice. Right? Yes, Stan? We've been joking that we see all these car ads that you always get these brand new cars for Christmas. Yes. That's what happened to me. Yeah. That's how it works. Yeah. You get a bill. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it's funny how marketing is a really twisty thing. When I went through business school, that was the area of emphasis is marketing. But frankly, it can be a whole lot of lies and distortions easily enough. No, you don't get the girl with the car.

And no, you weren't endlessly happy because you bought a whatever, right? And no, if you really deserved it, then they should give it to you, right? You're worth it, and you deserve it. That's the message they keep giving to you. But if you're really worth it, and if you really deserve it, then they should give it to you, which they don't.

And they don't even hope to. Okay. The last bullet on there, what is the nature of a believer's hope? Can we have our hopes dashed? Because we as Christians have our hopes dashed. Define dashed. Pardon? Define dashed. Dashed, smashed, ruined, disappointed. Our hope is a no-so hope. Not the kind of hope...

Okay, yeah. A key difference, the world hopes for this and hopes for that. You know, even little kids, I hope I get this for Christmas or I hope I get that. And the world has hopes and it's not by itself bad. We, as Christians, can have hopes that are uncertain. The kind of hope he's talking about here is not of the same kind, and Gene's point is well taken. We have an absolute hope. We have a certain hope.

It's not a probability. When you are hoping for His coming, is that an I hope so kind of hope, a probability kind of hope? It will happen. It will happen. But if you're hoping for it to come today, it might not happen. Yeah, in other words, there may be a hope, boy, I hope it's today. And that's not a certain hope. But is He coming? Yes. That's certain. And by the way, believers will talk about, well, I hope He takes me alive. And we'll use the term, I hope I get raptured alive. Let me clue you in. Everybody gets raptured. Everybody. If you're a believer, you'll be raptured. You'll be taken up. And why do I say that? It's because Paul talked, this is 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13-18, he talked about being taken up.

And it was possible right there within the lifetime of the believers. But those who are asleep in Christ, those who have died physically, they'll be taken up too. So we all have that blessed hope. The Lord will be coming for us. We are all included. It's not like, okay, these people died and it's too bad for them. I hope I get taken alive. The reality is the Lord is coming for all the saints. All the saints, whether they've already died or are alive at the time. All. Everyone. Okay.

Now, let's look at The last one, Titus 2.15, but these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority, let no one disregard you. Now, the word let is often used in the New Testament in places, I almost wish they'd use a different word. It doesn't mean allow. No one is to disregard you.

Now, why is it that Titus is to teach? not to be regarded as mere suggestions, advice, preferred opinions, or a personal recommendation. So why hasn't Titus come up to them, you know, I would highly recommend that you bond slaves not do your pilfering, you know, and the gossiping about the master and talking behind his back.

I'd strongly suggest to you that that's the way it ought to be. Is that the way he's doing it? In other words, what he's saying is, teach specifically, teach with certainty. We don't have a blessed I hope so. He says this is absolutely true and you can take it with certainty. This is a personal preference. I would really like it if you did this. Yes.

You see, one of the things that Christians have often just sort of kissed off is certainty. Oh, there's differences of interpretation on that. There's differences of opinion. Did God give us this book so that we could have a gazillion differences of opinion? What the truth is.

Certainty of understanding God's Word is not only possible, it's intentional. It's what God had in mind. That's why we have repeatedly, and we've pointed this out before, yeah, the first page, The singular faith, the set of teachings of the Apostles, starts in Acts chapter 6, and that phrase, the faith, continues on through the books of the New Testament all the way to Revelation. The one singular faith, the teachings of the Apostles. Paul writes in Galatians, here are the Apostles, they're getting together, Paul's with Peter, and all that. Do they sit there and have it out?

Do they argue over Arminianism and Calvinism? Do they arm wrestle and have tug of war? No. He said, we're in complete agreement. People will look at the book of James and they'll look at Paul's writings and they'll say, oh man, I don't know how to resolve these things. Do you know that Acts 15 and the book of Galatians tell about the times when Paul got together with James?

And there is not a hint of disagreement between those two men. Not even the slightest. So if there is a difference, it's in how we've interpreted it, not in the content, not in the intent. Okay? Now, either I'm coming up with tinnitus or I've heard a buzzer. So we need to call it to a close. Any more thoughts, comments, inspirations, exasperations?

Yes, Dan? who are in cults, they probably have been, it's been driven into their being, their belief system, and they are more absolute and certain about what they believe, which brings me back to what Nicodemus probably thought before he had that meeting with Christ that night. And he thought he was saved because of his cultic worship, which was worse. you're going to have to do it through faith. And that was the first time that he really got it.

That the foundation was not only the Messiah, but what the Messiah said, and what the Messiah did. The whole mortality of Jesus is the foundation that Christianity is built upon. And it's only through faith. Because another man did the work. Not Nicodemus himself, or not the people in the cults.

The cults will basically give this message that Christ died so that you can work for your salvation. That's their message. And they come up and they have little plaques on their clothing that says elder so and so and they're 19 years old. And they'll come up usually two by two and they'll want you to take an awake or a watchtower or something like that. But the reality is that it has this pattern, Christ died for your sins so that you could earn your salvation. That's the bottom line. That's their message. They're certain about it? Yeah, they're quite certain. I'm quite certain they're mistaken.

Let's pray. Lord, we do just ask you as we've gone through this passage of scripture, we just ask that you would bring these things to heart and bring them home for us. Teach us the depth and certainty and actually the simplicity of what you have for us and cause us to put our trust in you and the words that you've revealed for us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.