WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.359 I invite you to take your Bible and go with me over to the book of Titus. 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:05.679 The book of Titus. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:24.399 In the early 1800s, a ship by the name of the Earl of Aberbegini, Govinny, so I got it backwards, left England with about 400 people. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:28.879 It was a large ship, strong, built well. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:42.880 But in February in 1805, a ship was coming close to the coast of England, and one of the pilots came in a small vessel and took over control of the ship in order to direct it through some troubling waters. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:50.479 The man appeared to be confident, experienced, and so the ship's captain and the crew trusted him. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:53.840 The passengers, their very lives were in his hands. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:01.840 And as he sought to bring that ship into harbor, he misread the currents and the channels. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:07.280 And he brought that great vessel of 400 people directly into a sandbank. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:12.719 And before it was recognized what kind of trouble they were in, the ship began to break up. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:18.000 And there, in the very sight of land itself, over 200 people died. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:26.640 It's a terrifying and very, very humbling and sobering occurrence. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:34.879 And it brings a thought to my mind that the people we put our trust into and the voices that we listen to have an effect upon us. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:45.519 I remember one of my mentors telling me, he said, the books you read now and the people you listen to now will make you who you are in five years. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:54.000 And I thought, I better listen to that, and I better be careful today, because tomorrow depends on who I'm who I'm saying yes to in my life. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.640 The voices we trust shape the direction of our lives. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:04.159 Those very lives of those 400 people were in the hands of that one man. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:10.159 And so when those voices are good, it can be very, very beneficial. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:17.280 But when those voices are wrong or purposely misleading, it can be extremely dangerous. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.400 And consequences can be very real. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:29.039 Marriages, life, families, and even churches are influenced by voices. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:38.800 Paul understood that, and Titus is learning that, and the church that Titus is serving and the churches that he's serving are facing that. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.639 And it's important for us to remember that and to learn that as well. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:52.639 And as we open up Titus chapter 1 here, particularly in the last part of this chapter, in verses 10 to 16, we enter into a world where words are having their effect. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:54.400 They're doing damage. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:04.800 And when we read this passage, Paul is not writing some sort of distant unbiased theological essay about church leadership. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:08.319 He's writing into the middle of a pastoral crisis. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:12.879 In the middle of this situation are households that are being unsettled. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:25.199 Teachers who shouldn't be teachers are gaining an influence, and messages that promise depth are doing no more than people bringing people away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:37.120 And right in the middle of all of that is Titus trying to shepherd these congregations and trying to help them see that what they're hearing is nothing but cheap deception. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:51.520 And so as we read this, we need to remember that we live in a similar situation with similar voices, with similar purposes and designs that we'll read about here in just a moment. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:57.520 And this morning, I want us to do more than just identify false teachers. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:02.000 I want us to understand something better than that and bigger than that. 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:12.319 And that is that Christ cares for his people, and he does so in the middle of a world that's just like what Paul and Titus are facing and just like what we're in now. 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:25.120 Because Paul is going to show us that Christ shepherds his people, that he takes care of them, that he strengthens them and protects them and nourishes them, and he has the means to do it. 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:45.120 And as we've been looking, he does it through godly leadership, through men who can, by way of their character and their communication, lead people to Christ, who have the form of Christ in their behavior and the focus on Christ in their speech and in their preaching. 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:55.600 And so today I want us to understand more of why that's the case, because we now get into the situation itself here in Crete. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:12.000 And so Paul takes Titus here, and he takes us and he brings us into this world of per persuasive voices, of distorting messages, and of hearts that are untouched by grace, and tells us that Christ is not here in a panic. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:19.600 He's here speaking clarity, calmness, and courage that will keep his people. 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:30.000 So let's take a look at this passage of scripture and see how Christ cares for his people by alerting them to some trouble, but also directing them to how they might be stable. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:37.199 And the first thing I want us to see are the misleading voices that are here on Crete. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:39.680 Take a look at verse 10. 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:50.560 He says, There are many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from the circumcision party. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:59.759 Now, Paul begins here moving through the character and the communication of the church leadership by their modeling and their message. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:02.319 He tells them why this is important. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.399 It's important because there are misleading voices out there. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:11.040 Paul is not talking in some distant theoretical realm. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:13.600 He's speaking about real people in real time. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:19.279 And he's saying that these voices are present and they're multiplying and they're persuasive. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:24.319 And he even uses the word many there to describe them. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:32.639 These people who sound spiritual but have nothing really sound to offer. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:39.120 And he gives a description of these men in three different words. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:44.879 They're rebellious, they're empty talkers, and they're deceivers. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:51.040 Those are strong words, but they each have their own sense of flavor about them. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:56.480 First of all, they're rebellious, and it talks about their posture toward the truth. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:03.040 They are in direct contradiction to God, his word, and his authority. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:09.120 They are resisting his lordship, they are rebellious people. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:13.839 And then he says that they're empty talkers. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:18.000 And it's talking about the substance of their message. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:20.079 It's empty. 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:39.680 Now they might be speaking with a lot of words, they might sound persuasive in their arguments, they might be able to pull out a number of verses that they stack together, but when you put it all together and give it a title, Paul says they're empty talkers. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:49.839 They might be able to fill up a radio broadcast or a television show or a YouTube video or a blog or a podcast. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:55.439 But at the end of it, all that's been spent is nothing but your time. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:59.360 And then they are deceivers. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:06.560 Their posture is rebellious, their substance is empty, and their effect is damaging. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:08.319 They're deceivers. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:15.279 They are literally influencing people away from the truth, not toward it. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:18.720 And Paul says something about them. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:22.399 He said they must be silenced. 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:28.480 It's necessary in verse 11 to silence them. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:31.439 Why? 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:38.879 Because they're ruining entire households by teaching what they shouldn't. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:41.679 The effect is real. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:44.000 People are being harmed. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:53.279 These are not just opinions that are being offered that can be simply dealt with in a theoretical fashion. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:59.440 People are finding themselves hurt by what they're hearing. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:08.480 Households are receiving the effect of these rebellious, empty, deceiving teachers. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:18.879 The gospel is being distorted, and their consciences are being burdened by things that God would not lay upon them. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.960 Sadly, this is not a new thing in Scripture. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:31.279 All over the Old Testament, the prophets talk about other prophets who proclaim peace, peace when there is no peace. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:36.399 Teachers who promise blessing, but ignoring people's sin. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:42.799 Leaders who use spiritual language that actually masks their own self-interest. 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:59.200 And here we find in here why there must be spiritual leadership who has the modeling of Christ in their behavior, the form of Christ and how they live their lives, and the voice of Christ in their message. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:05.919 Because Christ is meant to be on display by modeling and the message. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:09.279 And so he doesn't leave his church vulnerable here. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:12.000 He's already explained what the antidote is. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:17.440 Now he's talking about the force of that so that we might understand its effect. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:22.720 It is a good effect, and it protects us from these kind of people. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:26.879 Paul's world is no different than our own. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:31.519 In fact, it's perhaps even more imperative for us that we listen to this. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:38.240 Because in Paul's world, you had to meet those messengers face to face somewhere. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:42.879 Perhaps you might be able to read their writing in some fashion. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:53.039 But now we have YouTube channels, we've got TikTok reels, we've got Instagram, we've got books that can be published by yourself. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:55.919 You don't even have to persuade a publisher to give it some room. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:04.000 All of these teaching opportunities are available to say nothing about radio and to say nothing about television. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:09.200 Or churches and pulpits and classrooms. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:12.960 Some of those voices out there are faithful. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:14.480 Thank God they are. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:29.120 But there are others who are sincere, misguided people, and then there are spiritually empty people who are persuasive, and then there are those who they know what they're doing, and they're twisting and perverting the truth for their own purposes. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:40.720 These people are not just locked into this time and space, they're brought into our own time and space. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:42.960 And those voices are out there. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:47.600 There are voices that are saying you can have a Christianity without repentance. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:55.200 That sin is really something other than the limitations that hold you back from being the true self that you really ought to be. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:12:02.879 And they use Christian vocabulary and empty it of any of its deep theological meaning. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:09.120 They make the cross something other than the meeting place of judgment and mercy. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:24.799 And then there are those who piggyback on that who say that Christianity is really just about personal fulfillment, gaining a healthy vision of yourself, and that the highest good is for you to be able to affirm yourself. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:30.559 And so yourself becomes the authority rather than scripture. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:37.200 And then there are those who turn Christianity into a set of techniques. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:46.480 They talk about manifestations, they talk about declarations, they talk about spiritual laws, they talk about promises of outcome. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:54.720 And it replaced the trust that we should have in Christ with formulas to express, words to speak out. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:13:03.840 And if there's any failure at all, you're left asking yourself, did I activate the principle in the right way? 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:12.559 This really was brought home to me with one of my cousins, a dear, dear cousin of mine, who had gotten caught up in this kind of teaching. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:23.200 And he had fallen off of a wall that he was working with the rest of his family in construction on, and he landed 10 feet down flat on his foot. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:28.159 And he said he immediately rebuked Satan in the name of Jesus. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:30.720 My first word would have been, ouch. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:40.480 And he said to me, as sincerely as he could, the pain went away. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:42.639 Like, okay. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:52.000 He said, but I woke up the next day and my the bottom of my foot was completely bruised, black and blue and dark and everything. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:14:00.559 And then he said this to me if I had only had more faith, I think I could have even made the bruise not show up. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:15.440 I said to him, I said, one of these days, you're gonna realize that that doesn't work, that that isn't what God says. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:23.519 And you're going to start to question the God that you think has given you these formulas, because the formulas aren't going to work. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:27.360 He said, I want you to know something. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:29.600 This isn't how God operates. 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:38.399 And I want you to be able to look at him with truth and understanding, even when life is filled with trouble. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:52.000 He married a lady who had had of a full hysterectomy, and they had convinced themselves, if they had just enough faith, that somehow she would be pregnant. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:15:15.200 It's tragic what was happening, how absolutely perverted his understanding had become, because these per persuasive voices had spoken over and over and over and over again that if you simply repeat these formulas, that somehow you could actualize the impossible like that. 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:30.320 There's teaching today from rebellious, empty talkers who are deceiving people. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:42.399 There are others who are fusing political ideology with the gospel, thinking that allegiance to a party is the same thing as being aligned with Christ. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:52.480 And it's causing people to be filled with fear and suspicion and ready to mark out division. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:58.799 Our country is filled with that sort of atmosphere. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:02.960 And you pick your party, I'm not mentioning a single one of them. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:07.200 Because it's on both sides of the fence. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:19.039 There's a teaching that elevates personal revelation above scripture, where impressions and dreams become the authority that guides people. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:40.159 I went to California to a large church that was internationally renowned, and there I talked to a guy who said that he had gone into a trance for three days and came out a stronger believer. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:46.399 And I said to him, I said, I don't think that's how God sanctifies his people. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:52.559 It isn't about that sort of thing at all. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:17:08.960 No, it promises immediacy, it promises this idea that God is at work in the instant, in the moment, but it leaves people who are susceptible to that, to all sorts of deception and confusion and manipulation. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:20.480 Someone says to another, God told me to tell you this, and your answer should be, God knows my address. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:21.920 Right? 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:23.279 Okay. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:33.039 And then there was something that I had to find freedom from after some years. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:38.400 There's teaching that burdens consciences with rules that God did not give. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:49.759 That talk about rules about your food that you eat or the clothing that you wear or the holidays that you go on or spiritual performances that you must attend to. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:18:06.240 It sounds silly to say this, but after being bound up by that kind of legalistic frame, I had to actually inform my conscience of what was allowable or not allowable in actions to do. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:21.359 And I'd gotten myself to the place where I understood that it was legalism, that the rules that they had imposed upon my conscience were not biblical, but I still had to learn to exercise my life within the freedom that's found in Christ. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:25.599 And here is a crazy example. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:29.599 Royal and I were told you can't go to movies. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:31.359 Movies are wrong, right? 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.960 Some of them are, some of them aren't. 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:38.240 But we were told, don't even think about it. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:41.759 Movies absolutely should not be gone to. 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:52.160 Anyway, there was no streaming back then. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:54.160 There was no such thing. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:19:06.960 So Royal and I, after some time, had brought ourselves to the place where we thought, I think with some appropriate wisdom and understanding, we can go see a movie. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:22.319 And so with fear, not fear, but just with some has some some informed hesitancy and and and awkwardness in the moment, we went to see our first movie after we had pulled ourselves out of that legalism. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:24.720 The Lion King. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:33.359 Yeah. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:37.839 All right. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:41.839 So this message is it's personal. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:49.279 It's personal for you too, I know, because I know some of your stories. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:55.440 And I know some of the things I just mentioned, they don't just hover on your periphery. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.960 They've been in your home, they've been in your head. 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:05.920 Paul says they must be silenced. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:14.400 Not because God wants a lot of suspicious people, he wants healthy people. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:23.599 He wants people who are filled with sound doctrine, healthy teaching is another way to say that same thing. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:31.759 Because he cares about our stability, he cares about our clarity, he cares about our spiritual health. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:45.759 He wants us to live our life without fear and anxiety and trouble and distress, even if everything outside is filled with troubled waters. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:59.039 So Paul is saying here this is why, Titus, you need to find godly leadership that models Christ and whose message is centered on Christ. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:20.960 Because the more you show them Christ and the more you talk about Christ, the more steady and stable and strong God's people will be, the more protected they will be against all of those voices that are out there trying to gain their hearing and trying to bear an influence over them. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:27.279 So we must be discerning about the voices that we allow into our lives. 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:40.640 And we must ensure that we do just as the Bereans do, who took the Apostle Paul and said, We're not going to listen to you unless the scriptures speak about those matters well. 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:59.759 We must pray for the leadership of this church that it would maintain a direction toward Christ, bringing us all that same place to Him, and who are able with care and yet courageous spirits to answer these false things. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:02.559 Now let's go a little deeper. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:03.119 Point two. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:11.039 That was misleading voices, but we want to see underneath all of this in point two the misaligned motives that they have. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:18.880 Because Paul now pulls back the curtains of their actions and shows us what the motives are behind all of these things. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.799 Take a look again at verse 11 and 12. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:25.039 It's necessary to silence them. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:34.640 They are ruining entire households by teaching what they shouldn't in order to get money dishonestly. 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:46.000 The reason why they're doing all of this is not driven by love for Christ, but by personal gain. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:23:02.160 Paul is telling us here what is underneath, particularly in Crete, in the culture that's there, the moral depravity that's there in the society, and he gets it very, very personal. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:11.599 And he reaches, as you can see here, he reaches for a line from one of Crete's own poets, Epimenides, and he speaks these words. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:18.240 He said, one of their very own prophets says, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:21.200 And then he says, This testimony is true. 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:28.799 Now, Paul is not advocating any kind of prejudice. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:34.000 He's exposing the evils of the society that are there. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:38.160 That this is the atmosphere that Titus is ministering in. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:44.960 That Crete is a place where voices multiply because of their greed. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:56.640 In fact, there is a Greek word to creetize, is how we would transliterate it, and it means to lie. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:23:59.839 Can you imagine? 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:00.880 Where are you from? 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:02.720 Crete, liar. 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:07.519 That's exactly what it's talking about. 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:16.960 And Polybius wrote, another contemporary wrote that the normal thing in Crete was to pursue money. 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:20.000 It was considered the highest good. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:23.440 The more I can get, the better life is. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:55.279 That is the soil for false teaching. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:03.440 Because you are pulling on everybody's desires that are self-interested, because everybody has themselves at the center. 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:08.640 And so be careful. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:12.880 Because these people are teaching for the purposes of selfish gain. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:24.720 And because selfish gain is in their heart, they're going to ply people who have selfish gain in their hearts with words that will sound good to them but lead them astray. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:34.240 Because it's playing all of your inner inappropriate motivations, because they have inner inappropriate motivations. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:40.799 And so they use spiritual language in order to build a personal platform. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:47.440 They leverage their influence to receive money, our status, our control. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:54.400 And in the process, everybody that they're speaking to are just tools to their own personal lens. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:25:58.559 They're not shepherds. 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:00.720 They're not shepherds at all. 00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:10.720 And we see this in our day, this combination of self-indulgence and self-promotion and spiritual language being used. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:20.400 And today it can be done in the millions, not just in households. 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:31.440 Where ministries are built around the personality of a leader, where influencers use fear to gain their loyalty. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:39.759 In movements that promise blessing in exchange for money, and they use their own lifestyle as an example of how that works. 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:50.640 Not realizing a lot of poor people, well, they realize it, but the people don't realize it, that a lot of a lot of their giving has funded that. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:57.359 And you're making yourself poorer so they can become richer, so they can say, look what happens. 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:05.279 And all you do is end up being a part of the vicious cycle of siphoning your own money away to that man's selfish greed. 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:12.400 And then there are those teachers who use guilt in order to control them. 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:25.359 Royal and I watched a tragic, tragic documentary this week of the fundamentalist Latter-day Saints, of people that thought that polygamy was still active today. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:35.759 And one man, I don't know, married 22 women, many of them underage, not even pubescent. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:41.519 Thankfully, he's in jail and won't get out ever again. 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:56.880 But it just shows how deceptive and how deceiving the mind can be to control people for their own perverse ends, whether it be money or sexual favors or pride. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:03.279 Paul says here, rebuke them sharply. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:25.440 To move into those places and to speak plainly when ambiguity is reigning, to expose what's harmful so that Christ's healing might come in. 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:32.240 Not to humiliate people, but so that restoration can be the atmosphere. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:34.559 Because take a look at what he says here. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:44.319 He says, Bring these things in so that they might be sound in the faith. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:46.240 In verse 13. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:29:01.359 Paul is saying the only way to deal with this is with loving reproof that's clear, that's restorative, that's corrective, that brings people back. 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:06.720 And Paul is saying that because this is the voice of Christ for his people. 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:10.960 Because Christ loves his church enough to speak with clarity. 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:16.400 Christ loves his church enough to call people who are in places of leadership to courage. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:20.960 He cares enough to expose the evil motives that will harm his people. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:24.640 And he cares enough to restore those who've been misled. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:26.799 Isn't that wonderful? 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:33.599 Let's go further, because verse 15 and 16 bring us a little deeper. 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:38.319 Not only misleading voices and misaligned motives, but misguided hearts. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:42.640 And in verse 15 and 16, he brings that straight to us. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:47.920 To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:50.880 In fact, both their mind and conscience are defiled. 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:55.359 They claim to know God, but they deny him by their works. 00:29:55.599 --> 00:30:01.440 They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work. 00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:14.319 Now, Paul takes us beneath the culture, beneath the motives, and he gets beneath their techniques and their persuasive voices, and he gets straight to the condition of their heart. 00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:19.599 And he makes a clear contrast. 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:28.799 There is a heart made clean by Christ, and then there's the heart who may speak of Christ, but whose heart has never been touched by Christ. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:42.720 There are those whose hearts have been made clean by Christ where purity begins to move outward, where God's gifts are received as gifts, where the conscience is softened and the mind is renewed. 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:49.759 The person's not perfect, but their trajectory is moving more and more toward Christ. 00:30:50.319 --> 00:31:09.759 And then there are those who are untouched by grace, where impurity flows out of their inward parts, where even good things are twisted, where religious practices are corrupted, where scripture is handled in a way to distort rather than to heal. 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:14.640 And Paul says their mind and their consciences are defiled. 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:27.279 The problem is not just one of behavior, it's not a problem just of motive, it's a problem of the absolute absence of Christ in their heart. 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:34.880 They claim to know God, he says, but they deny him by their works. 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:43.039 It's one of the things I say to myself often when I listen to someone, it has to pass the smell test. 00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:44.400 Right? 00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:52.400 And if I don't, if I don't hear about Jesus pretty quickly, actually, I'm like, I'm done. 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:54.240 I'm not listening to this. 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:02.400 You see, this is not just an inconsistency with these folks either. 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:04.720 They're being consistent. 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:15.359 They're speaking things, they're they have confessions, they talk about things, they use God's name, but they're not under God's authority whatsoever. 00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:23.519 And it's not just a matter of wrong ideas, it's about the fact that their heart is still in darkness. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:29.200 Because the problem isn't just what they say, it's who these men are. 00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:34.079 Their teaching is corrupt because their inner life is corrupt. 00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:43.680 Their influences are dangerous because their conscience is darkened, and their words are deceptive because their hearts are untouched by the grace of God. 00:32:48.319 --> 00:32:51.440 Now we need to do a little self-reflection here. 00:32:53.839 --> 00:33:00.160 David asked me a couple days ago about who one of my favorite uh professors was in Bible college. 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:05.599 I mentioned Dayton Burt and Third Baptist Church at Fall River, Massachusetts. 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:11.039 And he taught 1 Corinthians and Romans to me in Bible college. 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:17.519 And one thing he did all the time was he didn't allow us to get all triumphant as we read about bad doctrine. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:22.319 He always went, okay, class, let's talk about ourselves. 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:28.799 And uh there was a lot of oh me moments in there, and they were helpful. 00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:39.039 Paul wants us to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves, are we one of those people that are not aligned with Christ? 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:50.160 Perhaps we're in a place where scripture is preached, but it enters our ears, not our hearts. 00:33:53.039 --> 00:34:02.160 We're around Christian language, we're among the Christian community, we're around Christian activity, but Christ has never settled in our heart as Lord and Savior. 00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:07.039 It is possible. 00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:11.679 Here's the wonderful truth, though. 00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:26.639 Christ can receive and restore the misguided, Christ can heal the hypocrite, Christ can give hope to the people who have no light or life in their hearts. 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:42.320 It is possible for people to be saying Christian things years in a Christian community, active in Christian service, and not know the Savior whatsoever. 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:49.679 And if it's a danger out there, it is a real possibility even among us. 00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:59.440 I don't want to end here though, because there's something underneath all of this that I said. 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:06.320 There is the realization that God has given us a merciful provision. 00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:10.320 And it brings us back to what all of this is about here. 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:29.039 As we go back to verse 1, working all the way to verse 16 through chapter 1, we understand that God is bringing about truth into lives so that they might live wholesome lives that are full of health and vitality that display who God is. 00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:32.880 Look at how he puts it here in the first few verses. 00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:45.840 Paul, a servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, in the hope of eternal life that God who cannot lie promised before time began. 00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:52.639 In his own time he's revealed his word in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Savior. 00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:54.239 All of those words. 00:35:54.400 --> 00:36:03.039 And then he leaves it with grace and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus, our Savior, our deliverer, our life giver. 00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:06.320 What is the provision? 00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:25.440 It is people who have Christ in their hearts and who have Christ in their voices, who bring us all toward Him, so that we might understand that God doesn't lie, that God's promises are strong, and that eternal life can be yours by faith in him. 00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:27.679 That's what it is. 00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:38.159 So, Paul here, yes, in this subsection that we're looking at in this chapter, talks about these disruptive voices, he talks about these misaligned motives, he talks about these misguided hearts. 00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:52.079 He's shown us all of that and the dangers of how they are overturning households and leading people astray by misusing the spiritual authority that's found in God's word, and how the danger is real, and how the human heart is vulnerable. 00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:53.760 All of that, yes. 00:36:55.119 --> 00:37:09.920 But Christ is near his people, and Christ has given us something that will lead us to health and to wholesomeness and to vitality within his lordship and under his care. 00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:39.119 And it's found in the character of our Savior who loves his people, and he loves his people in order to give them those who would show Christ in their life and speak about Christ in their preaching, who would lead with the kind of care that Christ cares for his people, whose convictions are anchored in the word of Christ Himself, whose ministry is nourishing and protecting. 00:37:41.440 --> 00:38:03.519 It may not sound like it tickles the ear, and it may not be resonating with the selfish vibrations of your heart, and it may not call to your lurid fancies, but it's true and it's deep and it's strong and stabilizing and wholesome. 00:38:04.800 --> 00:38:09.199 Because it's Christ Himself serving his body. 00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:10.719 Amen. 00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:15.440 Listen to these words that talk about our Savior. 00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:20.320 John 10, 11, he's the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. 00:38:20.639 --> 00:38:27.360 John 17, the one who guards his people, not one of them is lost. 00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:34.000 Hebrews 13, 20, the great shepherd of the sheep who equips his people with everything good. 00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:42.880 Jude 24, to the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless in his presence with great joy. 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:47.280 Those are the intentions of God for his people. 00:38:48.239 --> 00:38:58.559 To bring them into all of that, all of that love, all of that sacrifice, all that care, all that truth, all that eternal stability. 00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:02.559 That's what he means for his people. 00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:09.519 And he does it through the word preached and the word displayed. 00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:12.800 Because the elders are just instruments. 00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:21.679 They're stewards of the household of God, ensuring that God's household is taken care of the way God wants it taken care of. 00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:25.679 So we don't need to fear every new voice. 00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:30.800 We don't need to be in a panic or confusion or suspicion. 00:39:31.519 --> 00:39:37.360 We just need to know: is Christ being magnified in every way? 00:39:38.239 --> 00:39:41.039 Because we need his word to steady us. 00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:44.159 We need his truth to surround us. 00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:47.840 We need his wisdom to guide us. 00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:51.039 We need his spirit to renew us. 00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:54.320 And we need his love to keep us. 00:39:57.360 --> 00:39:58.800 Let's pray. 00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:49.280 Oh Father, in the middle of these moments, when we are brought face to face with just how evil the human heart can be, it disturbs us deeply to know that there would be those not just outside denying you or denying the gospel or denying the people of God, but there would be those who would actually take up your name, who would seek to talk as if they were speaking with your voice, who would stand among your people and pervert it all for their own selfish benefit. 00:40:52.719 --> 00:41:04.079 Father, protect us from these things, so that our household would not be overturned and our lives disrupted. 00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:30.559 So, Lord, bring us, we pray, to the shepherd who leads us beside still waters, to the shepherd who restores our soul, to the shepherd who walks with us through every dark valley, who the shepherd who sends us an overflow of blessing even in the face of our enemies, whose shepherd welcomes us home, never to leave. 00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:37.679 Lead us to the one who always intercedes for us, to the one who always holds our us fast. 00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:43.119 And Father, may Christ always be known among us. 00:41:45.760 --> 00:41:49.840 Father, keep us from using Christ's name as a slogan. 00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:56.000 Because we confess our hearts are not always as steady as we think they are. 00:41:57.119 --> 00:42:01.920 That we're too easily drawn toward things that are not helpful but unsettling. 00:42:03.199 --> 00:42:06.800 Too focused on the urgent and not the important. 00:42:16.480 --> 00:42:20.079 Thank you that you haven't left us to navigate this world alone. 00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:25.119 As you've given us your word that's faithful and trustworthy and life-giving. 00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:29.760 And so, Father, make us a church that loves your truth. 00:42:30.800 --> 00:42:47.519 Give us the discernment in the middle of this deceptive world, give us humility in this world full of boasters self-confidence, and give us steadiness in the middle of this confusing upheaval that's called our society. 00:42:49.039 --> 00:42:57.679 Shape us by your word, anchor us in the gospel, and keep us soft to the voice of our Savior. 00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:00.239 And Father, we ask this in Christ's name. 00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:01.119 Amen.