Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Titus - Encouragement to Live Differently
It's true, we all need encouragement. Sometimes the encouragement is explaining the motivation, the 'why' of what we should be doing. And sometimes it's just a simple reminder, Jeremy looks at how Paul did this for Titus as he was giving instructions for Titus to lead the church on the island of Crete. Titus needed this encouragement, so that from a solid foundation he could lead the elders at each church.
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This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the book of Titus Today. The full lesson from Jeremy Thomas here's a hint of what's to come.
Speaker 2:The kindness of our God and Savior appeared in his love for mankind. His love for mankind. That's talking about the first coming of Christ, his first appearance.
Speaker 1:There is so much going on in the passage that Jeremy covers today that it's really difficult for me to summarize it.
Speaker 1:Perhaps the best way to summarize it is this it is strong encouragement and a great reminder that we, as believers, the recipients of God's grace toward us, the gift of His Son, jesus Christ, should now live differently, because it is often by our actions that others are drawn toward Christ, toward salvation. And so if we are full of grace toward others mercy, love, forgiveness, if we can exhibit peace, tranquility, seriousness, mindfulness helps, if we can be doing good works toward others, all these things that people see in us, it will draw them to Christ. It will draw them to want the peace that is within us. I guess that's really the lesson from today's sermon, which is to live differently so that others know there is something different about us, and it's not because we're great. Trust me, they're going to see everything that's wrong with us, but hopefully they see that there is something within us that allows us to overcome that, that there is something within us that allows us to overcome that. So now let's get into this encouraging reminder from Paul to Titus.
Speaker 2:Let's back up a little bit. I want to say a few things about chapter 1, 2, and 3 in the book of Titus, because he's going somewhere in chapter 3. So Titus, chapter 1, maybe the key word is elder or qualified elders. That's what he wants Titus to appoint in the house churches on the island of Crete. Because this is the leadership, and the leadership of course has to be in order and if it's not, well, everything's going to be chaos.
Speaker 2:Chapter 2, you might call orderliness for all people group or something like that, because here you're going to talk about older men, how they ought to live within the church. You're going to talk about younger I mean older women and how they ought to live in the church. You're going to talk about younger women, younger men, and in that day they had slaves in the Roman Empire and we don't. So we will just say employees, you know, and go at it from an application standpoint, and then some doctrine to explain why you have to have this order in the church. So everything in chapter one and two is really within the church. That's kind of a key to understanding, because things are going to shift in chapter 3.
Speaker 2:Chapter 3 is going to be how do we live outside the church, among our governing authorities and in society at large.
Speaker 2:And so you can see, then, from Paul's way of thinking, is that first you have to have orderliness within the church before you can ever get to this idea that the church is now going to go out into society and live orderly lives and be a witness to society. I think we have pretty good order as far as the local church. Hopefully I qualify, according to Titus 1, 6-9, the domestic, social, personal and doctrinal qualifications that are listed there to be an under-shepherd of this assembly, and if I'm not, you have to tell me or I'll, of course, check myself, but you can point that out. Chapter 2, then, is really for all of us, but mainly, you know you're going to fit in one of those categories for the most part. So if you're here's the thing if you're an older man and we said that in this time it was anybody you know over 40 years of age, so, if you're an older man, you need to look at chapter 2, verse 2.
Speaker 2:And it's just one verse, just one verse. Can you focus on those things? See, because that's going to be the order that we enjoy within the assembly. A lot of older men, they just want to joke all the time. It's just a continual joke. There's no serious-mindedness about it. So think about that. For older women, for example, it might be a temptation to be a malicious gossip, you know, to slander people's character.
Speaker 2:Paul put these out under the inspiration of the Spirit, on purpose. He didn't just select some random things. God, the Holy Spirit, knows what we need. Some random things. God, the Holy Spirit, knows where we need what we need. For younger women, you know everything here that surrounds the home in which we talked about. This is her main sphere of sanctification. This is where God grows. The woman is primarily in the home, you know, with the children and in subjection to her husband, loving her husband, all these things. And so then the young men okay, again, look at these things. Okay, because this is all necessary for getting to chapter 3. Okay, that's the reason I'm highlighting this.
Speaker 2:You can't go out in the world as a church and be a light to the world if you don't have order and sound doctrine in the church. I mentioned sound doctrine because chapter 2, verse 1, when Paul tells Timothy as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. So sound doctrine, orderliness, meaning we're living our lives according to the descriptions given here for our, let's just say, age group. And then, finally, that is to work its way out in good works the end of verse 14, to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works, not just for good works, but zealous for them. That means wanting to do them, having a zeal for doing good works. So all that in chapter one and two is within the church. It's the corrective for the churches that creep and everything has to be in order. And now what he's going to do in chapter three is he's going to launch out into the world and how we live out among the world. Okay. So chapter three, verse one, relates to our subjection to governing authorities.
Speaker 2:God created human government after the flood. So before the flood there was no human government. But after the flood God set humans to be civil authorities over other humans. And the cornerstone of human government is capital punishment If a man sheds a man's blood, so shall his blood be shed right. And so the reason was because man is made in the image of God. So to destroy another man by murder is to destroy the image of God. So to destroy another man by murder is to destroy the image of God, and so that becomes the cornerstone for human government and curbing evil in societies.
Speaker 2:Now, obviously, capital punishment can be applied in a way that's not good. It can be, in fact, applied in a way that's not good. It can be, in fact, misapplied. Somebody can be capitally executed when they did not commit a capital crime. Just, for example, jesus Christ. He was capitally executed, yet he did nothing right. So I think God knew all these things, yet he still gave capital punishment as the cornerstone for human government, because if a government doesn't have the power to take another person's life, they really ultimately don't have any power, because they can't stop people from taking other people's lives. Even the gun that the policeman holds is a symbol of capital punishment. That the policeman holds is a symbol of capital punishment. He can, given the proper circumstances, use that to kill someone, and it would not be murder because in the case that he's fulfilling his duty, because killing and murder obviously are not the same thing. Murder is a malicious taking of human life, whereas justice under a governing structure is justice, it's carrying out justice. Or if you're in war, that's different, that's not murder. But the bottom line is that God created human government and so he wants us, in verse one, to be subject to it.
Speaker 2:Notice remind them to be subject to rulers. Basically, 95% of the Christian life is just being reminded. You learn things, but then you forget things and you need to be reminded. So you come here on Sunday, you come here on Wednesday. Why do you come? Mostly to get reminded. I felt at one point in my ministry I always had to say something unique, something new that would stimulate people. And then I realized that's silly. The Bible keeps saying be reminded, even the Lord's Supper. You know it's for what To remember. So it's just to go back to the cross and remember those things. So most of it's just being reminded. Because why? Well, because we're humans and we love to forget. It's easy to forget. So remind them to be subject to rulers.
Speaker 2:Hupotasso, this idea of ranking yourself under the rulers first of all and the authorities. So these are both governing powers. The rulers are the higher governing powers, the rulers are the higher governing powers, the authorities are the lower governing powers in this description and he's saying believers should be obedient and obedient to these governing powers. And he says we should be ready for every good deed. There it is, there's the key word of the book good deeds. But this is talking about good deeds in society relative to governing powers. So, in other words, ready to help the police, ready to help the governing power, any opportunity to be a help to them, to serve them in whatever capacity we can, and also to help other citizens be good citizens, help other people in our society fulfill their responsibilities and be good citizens. We should be helping, we should be, in fact, ready see, it says ready to do these every good good deeds. Ready means looking for the opportunities in, out, in society, and I'm sure those who are here, who are in law enforcement and related positions of authority would could attest to the help it is when other citizens are, you know, helping along these lines and are, you know, coming alongside them in any way that they can to help them fulfill these responsibilities and make their lives, you know, easier. So we should be looking for, or ready for, every good deed out in society.
Speaker 2:Now, verse 2, we ought to also be peaceable as we live in society. He says to malign no one, to be peaceable, to be gentle and show every consideration for all men Again, all men is signifying this is just all society out in society. So we should be reminded not to malign them, which means to slander, you know, other people's character. That's so easy to do. It makes us feel good about ourselves to put somebody else down, to slander them, and that's what the world does. But that's not what we're supposed to do. Slander is easy, you know, just slander someone's character, just drag them through the mud. He says we're not supposed to do that, because if we do that again we're not any different than the world around us. And then how are you going to be a light to them? You can't be.
Speaker 2:Also, to be peaceful. Peaceful, this means not to be agitators, okay, not to be contentious and cause these problems. And I'm sure we've all failed. I know I've failed in this. I've been contentious Out in open society. That was not good. Shame on me, right? But we shouldn't be agitators, we should be peaceable. And further, we should be gentle with others and considerate of others. So, gentle with others, considerate of others.
Speaker 2:This word consider is from the word we get, humility, in Philippians 2, it talks about, you know, being humble and putting others above yourself, right, and serving their interests rather than just your own. And then it gives the Lord, jesus Christ as an example of one who humbled himself, right, taking to himself the form of a bondservant, you know, and he did everything for us. He laid down his life for us and it's the most humble example ever in the history of the world Him giving himself for us, not serving his own interests but serving our interests. And this word considerate means to put others out in society ahead of yourselves. And that's not easy to do because the world is just take, take, take, take, take. So when you go out in the world, you're not supposed to be take, take, take. You're supposed to be give and be considerate of others and put others ahead of yourselves. So this is how we're to live in society and obviously, if we live this way, and if these people at Crete live this way, they're going to be very different from the culture at Crete, because these were the lazy beasts, the gluttons, the always lying. It was a corrupt, slandering type of society. So they would be very different. And that's what paul's going for. He wants a different people living out in the world, in society.
Speaker 2:Um, in verses three, now notice what he does. Three through seven is he starts with the word four. Notice that word four. Okay, that word for at the beginning of verse 3? That's giving a reason he's now going to say this is the reason you should live this way in society, okay. So I'm going to write this down because this is a common transition word in all of Paul's letters and it's the Greek word gar, you know, like fish, but not a fish, okay, and one time I caught like a four-foot gar, like on a river in southeast Oklahoma. It was about the body was about that big around, about the size of a size three soccer ball. The thing was scary. Its mouth was about that long and teeth going through, you know, from the bottom up through the top. Anyway, maybe you'll always remember this word. Now, okay, gar Four.
Speaker 2:Now he's using it to give explanation or reason for why we ought to live this way among governing authorities and society at large. And if you look so this is a doctrinal section. Okay, it's doctrines, theology. Now, if you look back at chapter 2, verse 11,. Remember this? What is the first word in chapter 2, verse 11? No, it's gar, I already told you this. No, yeah, for it is the same Greek word, though too. Okay. And this was the first doctrinal section. It gave an explanation for why we ought to live orderly lives, right, older men, younger men, older women, younger women, so forth. And he gives a doctrinal treatise in verses 11, 12, 13, and 14. Those are our memory verses over the next four-month period. Now he's doing the same thing. Okay, he's going to give us a little doctrinal treatise to explain why we ought to live this way among society.
Speaker 2:And so verse three, for we also were once foolish ourselves. He's talking about unbelief, unbelieving society, right, and he's saying they're foolish, which does mean spiritually and intellectually dull. Okay, that's what it means Spiritually and intellectually dull. You know, obviously, for example, I used to believe in evolution, you know, and this type of thing. Now you know as much of the information as I had to acquire to be able to give a charted outline of the physical evolution, chemical evolution and biological evolution. Intellectually it's dull, like it's not because it's not true, it's just it's not even because it's not true, it's just it's not even close to true, and so you know you kind of have to close your eyes to reality to come to these types of conclusions and support them.
Speaker 2:So he says you know that's who we used to be. We used to be intellectually and spiritually dull. We lived like God wasn't there and we tried to explain everything as like God wasn't there and we tried to explain everything as if God wasn't there. But that's not who we are anymore, as we'll see in verse 4. So we go on in verse 3, though, and he says also, we were disobedient, which means rebellious against civil authorities, contextually, you know, causing problems in society. We're also deceived, which means that you're led astray by false ideas like evolution. That's just an example. But being led astray and the one who's ultimately behind all the deception is the great deceiver, satan himself. But we used to be like that. That used to be us, right? We also used to be, he says, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures.
Speaker 2:You know, the world is attracted to certain things okay, that are enslaving to the sin nature. The sin nature wants those things, it lusts after those things, it's pleasured by those things, and we still have a sin nature. But that's who we used to be enslaved to those things. Notice, slaves I like to point that out about unbelievers, that they're not like just yeah, free. They're enslaved to their sinful nature and they want to fulfill the lusts of that nature. And really it's bondage, right, it's a picture of Israel in Egypt, you know, in bondage. You know making the mud bricks, you know, and building whatever structures they were building, or the Pharaoh working for someone else who had them deceived to the extent when they left and went out of Egypt. What they want to do? They just want to go back.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, this used to be us. We were enslaved right to various less of our sin, nature and pleasures and and that's all we wanted to satisfy also spending our life in malice and envy, hate, hateful and hating one another. You know, when I taught this to the seminary students, you know I slowed down here, because if you really kind of think about the world around you, you go to your workplace or you go wherever you go, and you see people in society all around you, driving, walking, talking, speaking on the radio, whatever. It kind of appears like well, everything's okay, like society's an okay place, and yet if you look at this description, you know malice is going on. Envy is going on, hateful on envy is going on hateful, hating one another. That is what's going on.
Speaker 2:And I told them that when you look out at society it kind of appears kind of benign, but it's just a thin veil that is covering the most heinous core, heinous core. And if anything disrupts society, you will see it come out. You will see the core, the hate, the envy, the selfishness. It will all come out Very quickly and it's a little bit scary. But all you are seeing out there in society is just a thin veil covering wickedness. And I think the world, of course people in the world, are empty. They're broke, they're enslaved to their sinful nature, they're lost. I mean, that's how the Bible calls empty. They're broke, they're enslaved to their sinful nature, they're lost. I mean that's how the Bible calls them. They're lost and in their need of salvation, right.
Speaker 2:But you know, verse 3 is saying hey, we used to be the same way. We were unbelievers. We used to be the same Now. But notice verse 4. But that's one of the great words in the bible. But because it signals a contrast right, with our prior life. This is not who we are anymore.
Speaker 2:He says when the kindness of our god appeared and his love for mankind appeared. Okay, he saved us. Now, that's a grand statement. But notice verse 4, kindness of our God and Savior, love for mankind appeared. Who is mankind here? Is that just the elect, or is that all people? Okay, that's all people, I mean. Any natural reading would conclude that's everybody. God, our Savior.
Speaker 2:He sent someone who appeared, obviously the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came for mankind and so we call this unlimited atonement. I point this out because it's been pointed out twice in this book already, because it was in chapter 2, verse 11. Look at chapter 2, verse 11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. Now, unlimited atonement means that God sent Christ to provide salvation for all men. It doesn't mean that he's going to save all men. It just means the provision has been made in Christ's death and resurrection. It is limited. The atonement is limited in that it's only enjoyed. Salvation is only enjoyed by those who believe Right. But of course we have Calvinism and the five points of Calvinism. Who would? One of the points is L in the tulip. They have a tulip acronym. The L means limited atonement.
Speaker 2:They don't agree with the unlimited atonement idea that God sent Christ to pay the sin penalty for all people, for all men. They say no, that God in Christ only sent Christ to die for the sins of the elect, not the sins of the non-elect. And they also think that if he had sent him to die for all sins of all people, then all people would be saved. But they say, well, obviously not all people are saved and so therefore Christ could not have died for all people's sins. And hopefully you're getting stuck in this logic right now, going he, her, he, her, because that's what they want you to do, is get buying into their rational rationalism and logical constructs and not into what scripture says. Scripture is obviously logical, okay, but they just have a different logical structure.
Speaker 2:Um, but god? What is the problem with god providing salvation for all men and then only applying it to those who believe? Well, I mean, which he says over and over? I've got 198 verses that say that the condition on the human side to enjoy the salvation is faith or belief. I've got 198 verses. What do we do with all those verses? Clearly, you know, god has put a condition on humans that we must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. That's what Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailer. What must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. He didn't say if you're one of the elect, you'll believe inevitably and you'll be saved. But if not, too bad, he didn't die for you.
Speaker 2:So they have to go to all the passages like John 3, 16,. So, for God so loved the world that he gave his own listen. Oh, the world of the elect, except cosmos. That word doesn't have in its semantic range a limited value like that. Or they'll go to a passage like 1, john 2, 2,. He's the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. What do you do with that World of the elect? That's really their explanation, talking about other people that haven't come to salvation yet. But they're elect and they're out there. But these are not in my mind. They're not convincing, although I've argued with these people a lot to try to at least understand their point of view and maybe convince them that that's not what the Scriptures say.
Speaker 2:But there's passages like this and we're looking at one right here in Titus 3, 2.11 and 3.4, that the kindness of our God and Savior appeared. His love for mankind, his love for mankind, his love for mankind. That's talking about the first coming of Christ, his first appearance, and he saved us. Now we get to find out on what basis he saved us in verse 5. Remember, these are all reasons that we should live different in the society under governing authorities. Right, because he came for all people. And so this is, you see, the testimony idea that Paul is hoping for in our lives. And he saved us.
Speaker 2:And then he says not on the basis of deeds, which we have done in righteousness, so not on the basis of human good. You know, things that we consider that are good, that unbelievers do. Oh, did you see what? He gave this much money to this foundation, and he did that and he did this. Oh, he's good, he's a good guy, she's a good girl. Ok, all this stuff, ok, that's all just human good.
Speaker 2:And what this is saying in verse 4 is that God did not save us on the basis of deeds, which we've done in human righteousness. He didn't save anybody on the basis of any human good. Okay, but rather verse 5, what basis did he save us? On His mercy. A mercy is not getting what you deserve. What do we all deserve, according to Scripture? Everlasting separation from God, death, everlasting separation from God, but everlasting separation from God. But he saved us on a basis of mercy. That means it couldn't be based on anything that we did, because if we got what we deserved, it would be eternal separation from God. Right, but he saved us according to his mercy, not giving us what we deserved, but rather giving us what we don't deserve, which is salvation. So he says. And then he gives us the means, right In verse 5, by that would signify means by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:Now, that's not really two separate things. Okay, that chi, that's translated, and that word and it can also be a sensitive, which would be translated even which is just giving further explanation of what regeneration is. So the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. That work is inclusive of, or is explained by the idea of the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. What is this regeneration? That is a renewal? Regeneration is this idea that he makes your human spirit alive. Okay, see, your human spirit, in the condition of sinfulness in which we are conceived and born, is separated from God. It's dead to the things of God. So what he does at the moment, that we believe and he'll say that in a moment but is he makes your human spirit alive to the things of God, cleansing it. That's the renewal aspect. Cleansing it, cleansing it from sin, okay, so that your human spirit can now commune with God, okay, and the things of God. So this is the means by which he saved us. It's by regeneration.
Speaker 2:That is the renewal work of the Holy Spirit Verse 6, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Now, this is interesting. He poured out what do we say happened on the day of Pentecost? We go to Acts, chapter 2, and we say it says in the text, peter says there was a pouring out of the Spirit. Remember that this is the only other place in the New Testament that it describes in that similar language what happened the moment you believed and were regenerated. There was an outpouring of the Spirit upon you at that moment. So, in a way, pentecost does repeat itself, not at Asbury. In a way, though, pentecost gets repeated in that the moment you believe, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon you.
Speaker 2:Now, at that moment, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you and you don't ever get any more of the Spirit Like you got it Now. We went through some difference. He does a lot of things. He regenerates we just saw that. He indwells, he baptizes us, putting us into the body of Christ, changing our identity. He seals us in Christ right, he seals us.
Speaker 2:This is particularly talking about the indwelling. Okay, he was poured out upon us so that he indwells us. All believers have the Spirit indwelling them. Romans 8, 9. If you do not have the Spirit, you do not belong to him and you can't lose it. In fact, he sticks around even when you sin, so that if we sin, we grieve him. Right, ephesians 4.30. So he never leaves us. His indwelling presence is there. You can't get more of him or less of him, except in this sense, you can be filled by the Spirit on a daily lifestyle basis, or not? Ephesians 5.18. He says but I tell you, do not get drunk with wine, but be filled by the Spirit. And then he describes manifestations of the Spirit, like singing in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, lifting one another up. This is a manifestation of the Spirit when we are filled with the Spirit.
Speaker 2:Another way to say filling of the Spirit is to talk about walking by the Spirit or being led by the Spirit. So not all Christians are led by the Spirit, even though they have the Spirit indwelling them. Okay, because they quench or grieve the Spirit and don't want to live by Him. But whenever we do live or walk by the Spirit or are filled by Him, then of course he manifests His life through us. And so we have all been saved by means of the Spirit, who washed us with regeneration, cleansing our human spirit, putting it in connection with God, right, and he has been poured out upon us so that he now indwells us. And it says he indwells us richly.
Speaker 2:Okay, so there's a wealth of the Holy Spirit who indwells us, he's taken up residence in us, and this pouring out occurred through Jesus Christ, our Savior. The pouring out occurred through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Well, if it occurred through Jesus Christ, who sent the Spirit? Through Jesus Christ? Well, we are all the way back to verse 4, god. Okay, god, our Savior, he saved us. Verse 5, he's the one who, by means of the washing of regeneration, even renewal of the Spirit, he poured out upon us richly through Christ, our Savior. The Spirit.
Speaker 2:So look, did you just see the Trinity in there, by the way, father in verse four and five, um, the spirit in verse five and the son, jesus christ, in verse six. So there's trinity in these, these three verses. Some people say no, there's no trinity. You know, we don't believe jesus was god or the holy spirit. God's holy spirit's just a force, you know, and stuff like this.
Speaker 2:I'm like like, is this like Star Wars theology? I mean, like, what is going on? Yeah, exactly, and you know Mormons, jehovah's Witnesses. I mean this is a natural reading in the text. I mean, in verse 6, who's our Savior? Yeah, verse 6, who's our Savior? Jesus Christ. Now tell me in 6. Who's our Savior? Jesus Christ. Now tell me in verse 4. Who's our Savior? God.
Speaker 2:Now, if God has already saved me, why do I need Jesus, who's less than God, to save me, unless Jesus really is God? See, it doesn't make any sense. Why would he say Jesus Christ is our Savior if Jesus is less than God? Because if God has already saved me in verse 4, why do I need Jesus to save me? I've got God of universes already saved me and Jesus is just the first creation in these religions. So that wouldn't add anything to what God had already done. What would be the point of that. So that doesn't make any even logical sense.
Speaker 2:They're both Savior, god is the one who provides salvation, christ is the one who procures salvation. Did you hear that God is the one who provides salvation in giving His Son, and Christ, his Son, is the one who procures salvation? I always say God the Father did not get crucified for you on a cross, did he no? But the Scriptures tell us God sent His Son John 3.16,. It tells us in Galatians, 4.4,. In the fullness of time, god sent his son, born under the law. So God is the one who provides salvation and Christ is the one who procures it. So you can say both God is our Savior and Christ is our Savior. It's good, this is good, and so he has done this.
Speaker 2:Now, verse 7, there's a lot of theology here, verse 7, that, being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs. Okay, usually we say we're justified by what? What's the usual expression that came out of the Reformation? Justified by faith, right? But here it says we're justified by grace. Grace is looking at it from God's point of view. Faith is looking at it from man's point of view, isn't it? Because faith is man's requirement. Grace is what only God can do. Justified by grace. Grace means unmerited favor. It means he didn't justify you on the basis of any merit that was in you, anything you did. We already knew this. He already said not based on anything which we have done in righteousness, verse 5. But he justified us by grace. Right, he's also mentioned mercy. So grace is unmerited favor and justification is a legal term. That's very important because in this verse you're also an heir. How do you get to be an heir just in this world? Don't you have to be legally an heir? I mean, if you're not legally an error.
Speaker 2:You're not the error. So justification is a legal term and it refers to the declaration of righteousness. You are declared righteous in God's sight and that happens at the moment. You have faith. Okay, because we are justified by faith or through faith. Faith, we're also justified by grace. It's just looking from man's side versus looking at from god's side. The only thing that's consistent with grace is faith. Okay. Romans 4 16 I don't have this one memorized so I'll have to uh, skip back real quick and read it. But romans 4 16.
Speaker 2:For this reason, it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace. See, faith and grace go together. But Romans 11, verse 6, if it's by grace, it's no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise grace is no longer grace. So grace can't get together with works. So, whatever this faith is that we have to have, it can't be a faith that works. Did you hear what I just said? I cannot sneak works into faith, like so many teachers like to do. They do it in James 2 all the time. See, it's got to be a faith that works. If you don't have a faith that works, then you didn't really have faith that works, then you didn't really have the right kind of faith to begin with and you're not saved. James 2, even the demons believe. I've heard it 10,000 times.
Speaker 2:Read James. He's writing to believers and he's talking about living by faith in the Christian life, not how to go to heaven. Living by faith in the Christian life, not how to go to heaven. He's saying oh, some of you say you're living by faith, but you don't have any works. So what then? He says you're lying, you're not living by faith. He doesn't have anything to say about whether they're believers or not. He's already said in chapter one, verse 18, that God brought them forth by His Word and planted His seed within them. Do you know? Any unbeliever has the seed of God implanted in them.
Speaker 2:Yet teachers around the world get away with this Every single Sunday and Wednesday, and any other day they might be in the pulpit saying you've got to have a faith that works, friends, romans 11, 6 and Romans 4, 16. It's by faith only, and if it has any works in it, grace is no longer grace. So it's not about a faith that works, it's about just having faith in Jesus Christ. That's it. That's the sole requirement. Once you've done that, any works that come after don't have anything to do with whether you had the right kind of faith or not. They have to do with whether you're living by faith or not. It's really that simple.
Speaker 2:But the problem is is that the human nature wants to contribute something, and so it just can't be just faith alone. That's exactly what the Roman Catholic counter-reformers said in the 1550s and 1560s. That's exactly what the Roman Catholic counter-reformers said in the 1550s and 1560s. That's exactly what their argument was against the Protestants. You can't tell people they're justified and heirs of God just by faith. If you tell them that they'll just go live like hell. You're saved, you're going to heaven, oh great, I can live it up, I can do whatever I want, I'm still going to go to heaven.
Speaker 2:And so the Protestant reformers said, okay, well, it's got to be a specific kind of faith. It's got to have a faith that has works, that attend to it, and if it's not, you didn't really have faith to begin with. And what that did was it destroyed the gospel and it destroyed the freeness of salvation and it destroyed really the freeness of justification by faith. I mean that comes from the Reformation right, justified by faith alone and Christ alone. Right, but it's not. They'll say well, it's faith alone that saves. But the faith that saves is never alone. No, would you stop it already? Why do you got to do all this complication of thing? I'll tell you who makes things complicated. We do, satan does, okay, god doesn't. He's made it very clear in verse 5 that we're not saved on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, and he makes it very clear in verse 7 that we're justified by grace. He makes it very clear in verse 5 that it is according to his mercy. So do you see anything about mercy plus well, faith that works, you know, or faith that has works? No, you don't read any of that. And the reason you don't read any of that is because it's not anywhere in the Bible. That's why you don't read it. But everybody's got to, you know, get their hands on the gospel and mess it up. And that's why Paul wrote Galatians to get that all straightened out.
Speaker 2:Right, can believers desert and leave the gospel of grace? Right, can believers desert and leave the gospel of grace? Can a believer who has believed the gospel truly and they're justified can they then later turn around and get confused on the gospel and teach a false gospel. Yeah, that's what Galatians also says. He says who bewitched you, galatians, you know. He says who put you under spell? He says why are you so quickly deserting him? Who called you by his grace for another gospel? So, yeah, oh, there's lots of pastors out there who believe the gospel, but now they teach a false one. They will not let you be free.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you, you are totally free that god has done this on the basis of his own mercy. He has done this and justified you by grace alone, okay, and that your works don't have anything to do with it. The only person's works who have anything to do with it is the work of Jesus Christ. He is the only one who said it is finished. When he said that you know what, he didn't mean that we needed to come along later and say, plus what I did. No, if it's finished, I mean it's done, you can't do anything else, right? But so many teachers say no, no, no, no. It's got to be a particular kind of faith that you have that has these works attend to it.
Speaker 2:Let me ask a question to all these people who believe that how many works are enough to make sure I really had the right kind of faith. How consistent do I need to be? What if I fall off the train for five years? What if I fall off the train for five years and die? Did I not really have the right faith to begin with? This is just going to make people worried about whether they're living the life right, whether they have the right stuff. As they put it.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, no, don't look in here. If you look in here, if you want to sample this, go read a lot of the Puritans. The Puritans had a lot of good stuff. I'm not saying everything's bad, but boy, they were extremely introspective as a people group. It is continually about what's going on. They're looking inside themselves.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you a question Should you look in here or should you look up there? No-transcript, but if you'll look out to Christ, you'll see the satisfaction of God, because you are looking at the one who did everything for you. He did it in full. It doesn't need anything else. God is perfectly satisfied with you. And when we believe in him, guess what Now? He's satisfied with us because verse 7 says we are justified by his grace, which means God has declared us righteous. He looks upon us and treats us as he treats his own son, jesus Christ, and no differently, not one iota different. He treats you as he treats Jesus Christ right now. That is how he looks upon you Now. That makes us heirs legally right Heirs according to the hope of eternal life, or heirs with a view to eternal life.
Speaker 2:Hope is not something we have yet. If we already had it, we wouldn't hope for it. You know, I hope X. Okay. What are you saying? Something in the future? What is he talking about? The hope of eternal life? Well, you already have eternal life. In one sense, it's the moment you believe.
Speaker 2:Jesus said he who believes in me has eternal life. But there's another aspect of eternal life. Jesus said in John 10, I came to give life, and not only to give life, but give it abundantly. That's talking about the enjoyment of your eternal life. So you already have it, but now do you enjoy it or not? Are you enjoying it by living the Christian way of life? If you are, you're enjoying your eternal life. But still there's the hope of eternal life. What's that? It's something still future. It's the messianic kingdom and beyond, where we will spend our eternal life, and that's what he's talking about here. We are legal heirs to the world that is eternal, which begins with the kingdom, the messianic kingdom, and Jesus Christ ruling and reigning. Okay, you are a legal heir of that. Everyone who has believed is a legal heir and will be in that kingdom. No one's going to be cast out of the kingdom who has believed. That's what this is saying.
Speaker 2:He says now. This is a trustworthy statement, I think, speaking of what he just got done, saying in verses 4 through 7, about this great theological statement of what we have, that God has saved us. He says, and concerning these things, I want you, titus that's a singular, I want you, titus, to speak confidently. Okay, to all the churches in Crete, so that those who have believed look at this. There's the word believed. What did we say was the sole condition? Faith. And there it is believed.
Speaker 2:Okay, who have believed, god will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men, speaking of all men, society at large, right Now. If you believe, what are we supposed to do now? Be careful to engage in good deeds out in society. Question are you saved by good deeds or are you saved for good deeds, for You're saved for them, you're not saved by them. This is the key idea of the book, though this is where he wants the people on the island of Crete to be. This is where he wants the people on the island of Crete to be. He wants them to set up order in the church by having qualified elders. He wants everybody to start living in their proper roles and learning sound doctrine. And then he says the end of that is I want you to be careful to engage in good deeds out there in the world, because this world is a wicked place.
Speaker 2:He just described it in verse 3. He says we used to be those people. We used to be hateful, hating one another. We used to be enslaved to various lusts. We used to be disobedient to authorities and deceived, manipulated by the powers that be. We used to be intellectually and spiritually dull. But that's not who we are anymore, and these people need salvation just as much as us. Who we are anymore, and these people need salvation just as much as us, don't they? And so how are we going to get them to ever listen to us and what we have to say about Christ? Well, good deeds.
Speaker 2:Here's the deal. The world cares more about what the church does than what the church says. It will always be this way. It will always be this way. They are more interested in what we do than what we say, and they are always looking for places where the church fails, because then they're just going to go point the finger, aren't they? This is exactly what they do. You will never get a hearing with the world and get to give people the gospel unless you are careful to engage in good deeds and show that your life is different than theirs. You won't get a hearing. You can't get a hearing. And, frankly, they're right. They are right.
Speaker 2:Why listen to someone who's a hypocrite? I don't want to be a hypocrite. Do you want to's a hypocrite? I don't want to be a hypocrite. Do you want to be a hypocrite? No, so you're not going to listen to people who are hypocritical. You're going to listen to people that are genuine and real. That's why we have to be careful to engage in good deeds, so that it brings profit to all men and they see the light of the gospel in us and they want to know more, because twice now he's told us that he came for all men To bring salvation.
Speaker 2:Chapter 2, verse 11. To all men. And in chapter 3, verse 4. The kindness of God and his love for mankind appeared. It's all men. So then, you see, this plan that Paul has for Titus, this letter, order, doctrine, live a different life in the world, and the world will want to know, as we do good deeds among them, and we are given an opportunity to give an answer, to explain to them the grace of God in Jesus Christ. It's the grace that you've enjoyed. It's the grace that I've enjoyed. It's the mercy you've enjoyed, it's the mercy I've enjoyed. Why would we want to keep this for ourselves and not engage in good deeds, to get opportunities to give other people the gospel that they too may enjoy his mercy, right, and his grace? Because there's no greater gift, right, there's no greater gift, all right. I hope this has helped. But that's why we're focusing on good deeds this year, right, this is our key theme for the year. Focusing on good deeds this year, right, this is our key theme for the year Because it's wonderful to come and to fellowship among us, and we have chapter one and two that discuss that.
Speaker 2:But chapter three says when we leave this place, folks, you're going out in society at large and the real issue is how are we living out there? Because in the book of Revelation there's seven little churches and they're all called what Lampstand? Seven lampstands and the question was what is the little church at Ephesus and the church at Thyatira and the church at Laodicea, and Smyrna and Pergamum? Were these churches really lampstands to their communities? Were they really? Some of them were kind of snuffed out. It wasn't so good. They were no longer a testimony to the world because they compromised, tolerated false doctrine and all sorts of stuff. They were becoming like the world.
Speaker 2:We can't do that. We have to go out and be different from the world. I think it shows up in the littlest things I really do. I think people see the way you love your wife, the way you respect your husband, the way you love your wife, the way you respect your husband, the way you train your children, the decisions you make where to go, where not to go, the time you spend with one another and the quality of the time that you spend with one another. You know the differences make a difference. They add up is what I mean when people view your life. They add up is what I mean when people view your life. They add up and hopefully you're intentional, see with them and careful to do good deeds to help them and humble yourself before them, because that's what's going to really give you the opportunities when you put all these things together.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series in the book of Titus. If you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series in the book of Titus. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.