Well, good morning. So I apologize. I would normally be wearing a tie.
I got the shirt back from the cleaners. And it was a little tight.
And it was cutting the blood off to my brain. I was hoping to remain standing the rest of this meeting.
I thought I would take it off. So I was… Either it's shrunken or I'm gaining some weight.
So I was sharing my theory with Dan and he said, no, no, you're gaining weight.
So he speaks the truth in love. So thank you, brother, for that.
Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1.
I'm actually going to be finishing up the chapter here this morning.
Titus chapter 1. I'm going to be spending most of my time in Verses one, or excuse me, verses 10 through 16.
So I'm going to go ahead and read that. And I'm actually, I'm going to start here in verse 9.
For the flow here. Titus 1 verse 9, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught.
That he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convict those who contradict.
For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision.
Whose mouths must be stopped who subvert the whole households.
Teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain.
One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.
To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified.
For every good work. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this letter.
From the Apostle Paul to Titus. We thank you that we can glean from it here this morning things that can apply to our lives today.
We thank you for your word. We just commit this time at your hands now. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen. So just another quick review for those of you that are joining us. Paul had traveled to Crete with Titus.
And probably with some others. And he had to move on to some other missionary work and he left Titus behind there in Crete.
And then it says that in verse five of our chapter here. For this reason I left you in Crete.
That you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.
So there were things that were lacking that he noticed while he was there, or things that were undone.
Paul had to leave. Things to do. And he needed Titus to be faithful and stay there.
And stand for the truth of the gospel, stand for the apostolic truth.
So he says that, you know, to set in order these things that are lacking and also appoint elders.
So appoint leadership in the local churches. And last time I spoke, I went through these characteristics that are required for elders, for the leaders in a church. And I went through this Verses 5 through 9.
And that these qualifications, they're required for being an elder. But one thing I want to mention, and I did talk a little bit about this last time, is that this does not set up a separate class of believers.
This is not, here's the clergy, everyone else is laity. That's not what this does. This is a list.
Of what all believers should be. All believers should be these things.
But elders must be these things. So this is something that we can all lay hold of and take in to our own Christian walk as we read these characteristics. So I spent time last time on all those characteristics.
But now, but now Paul singles out this one characteristic.
And he opens up some more information about it. So there in verse 9, That last… Characteristic, he says, about the requirements of an elder. He says.
These men ought to hold fast. The faithful word as he has been taught.
That he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those contradict.
And he's going to spend a lot of time on this because it's important.
It's important what's happening there in Crete. And really, it's important about our own culture here that we live in.
That the truth is proclaimed. That the error is corrected.
That sound doctrine goes forth. And that word sound, it means healthy.
Healthy when someone has, when they're sound, they're healthy. Healthy doctrine.
You know, there's things that are true, but if there's too much of an emphasis on it, you miss out on the whole picture.
So it's healthy doctrine. It's very important to hold fast.
The faithful word. And then he says, why? Why is it important? Verse 10.
For there are many insubordinate, idle talkers, deceivers. He goes on.
Talks about these false teachers that are there in the assemblies, in the churches there in Crete.
So, you know, while Paul was there in Crete, he noticed. There's a lot of knuckleheads, right, running around… seeing things that they shouldn't be saying. Teaching things they shouldn't be teaching.
They need to be stopped, he says. They need to be stopped. They're confusing people. They're stumbling people. We need to make sure that the assemblies are strong and proclaiming the word and we need strong elders in order to accomplish that.
So there was a tremendous need for Titus. To be laboring there and finding men that meet these criteria that would stand for truth.
He said, you know, Titus, you need to find these men. You need to find men that can handle the word of truth, the word of God.
2 Timothy… 2.15, it says… studied to show yourself approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth. There's a need for men to study.
To be diligent in the Word of God. And to learn how to handle it.
Be diligent. And it says in verse 9, it says, to be able, I can take this, what I learned from this.
I can exhort It says there in verse 9, I can convict or convince or correct.
These things that are false. Those that contradict, those that want to argue issues and want to spread their false teaching.
And why was this so important? Well, it says here in verse… 11.
He says, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households.
So there were families. Whole households being, you know, precious souls, men, women, families.
Their lives are being turned upside down. That's what that word means, subvert. It's like when the Lord Jesus… flipped over the tables.
Of the money changers. People were being stumbled.
And Paul did not want that. Paul wanted people to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted people to know the truth.
He didn't want people to get taken up with these false ideas.
He wanted believers to stand fast in the liberty that we have in Christ. Stand fast in liberty where Christ has set us free. Enjoy him. Enjoy his grace. Understand our standing. Understanding our position in him, all these sorts of things.
He wanted people to understand that. And these things that people were spreading was affecting their walk, affecting believers walk.
They were getting weighted down with wrong teaching. Wrong teaching about the law and its application in our lives.
False teachers that false teaching that would hinder growth. This was very important to him.
We need men. To be effective.
And using… The sword of the Spirit, right?
The sword of the Spirit. We need to know how to handle our sword, right?
I remember we would go on college campuses And we would, sometimes we'd open air preach. We would… share the gospel with people and sometimes people would come and start arguing and saying vile things and Things about Christianity, about the Bible, about God.
They would come and say all these erroneous things. And I remember this one brother, he always used this illustration of, it was time to get out the sword, right?
He was like, shing. To fight off the wrong, you know, the things that were coming that people were hearing. Being able to pull out the sword.
And exhorts and corrects. And share the truth.
Confront the lies that were being spread. So pull out your sword.
But before we can be used by God in this way.
You know, to exhort, to convict. Those that contradict before, we can correct others.
Before God can use us. To correct others with this.
I need to let this correct me. I need to open this up and say, Lord, what are you saying?
To me, you know, it's very easy to say, you know, that brother needs to stop doing, you know, as you're reading.
And so we apply it to others very easily. Oh yeah, you know, that brother's got to stop this. That sister, you know, she keeps doing this.
It's like, no, this is to me. I need to let this word correct me.
It says in James… 121, receive with meekness.
The implanted word which is able to save your soul. Receive with meekness. Lord, what do you have for me today?
Psalm 139, it says, search me, O God. Know my heart. See if there be any wicked way in me.
And lead me in the ways everlasting. Lord, search me. It's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer, right? It's me. Hebrews 4, sticking with that sword theme.
Hebrews 4. Take a look at Hebrews 4.
It says in verse 12… You don't have to turn to it. But it says, for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.
Piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. You know, it's like the sword that cuts.
It reveals. It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of my heart. It lets me see my true motive. It lets me recognize, ooh, Lord, that's ugly.
Forgive me. We see it in light of his perspective. When we let it do its work.
You know, it's a sword. Sometimes it's a surgeon's scalpel, right? Just making the right exact cut, showing… O Lord, it's me. I need to let the word of God correct me.
And then it says back in Titus. Back in Titus verse, chapter 1.
It says, holding fast, verse 9. Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught.
As he has been taught. Am I teachable?
Am I teachable? When I come on a Sunday like this or Wednesday night Bible study.
Am I teachable? Am I willing to learn? I have something to learn. I have a lot to learn.
We all have a lot to learn. Nobody has a corner on the truth.
We're all learning and we're doing it together. And that's what's so wonderful. We have a lot to learn with each other and we can… grow together.
So… Now, jumping in here.
Verse 10. So Paul was well aware of well of what Titus was facing and the need for others to be able to stand.
So in the passage today, we're going to see the state of the ministry.
That was there in Crete. You know, we can imagine, we read that before about people were insubordinate, idle talkers, deceivers.
You can imagine maybe having the breaking of the bread meeting.
Like we had this morning. You know, such a wonderful time.
That we can come together. And we lift up our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we focus on him and his finished work. Different brothers will get up and share pray lead out a song. Such a wonderful thing to… to rejoice in him and his person.
And it's… there's no reason to think, to not think that that's what they did here too.
Had the breaking of the bread. Paul taught the Corinthians there in 1 Corinthians 4.20, how is it then, brethren, when you come together?
Let every one of you have a psalm, have a teaching, right? That was something that the church did in those days.
Let all things be done for edification. So there was this idea of having this open time where people were able to share And we experienced that this morning.
Can you imagine they're in Crete? Men are getting up and they're using that time for self-promotion.
They're using that time to undermine the leadership. They're using that time to speaking nonsense, idle talkers.
Deceiving the Lord's people, stumbling people from getting up and sharing.
I don't know about you, but if that's the kind of meeting that we had for the breaking of bread, I'd have a hard time going downstairs and having I'd be sick to my stomach, right? I'd have a hard time going downstairs and having a donut hole. I'd be sick to my stomach.
But we thank the Lord for the wonderful times that we have.
With the breaking of the bread. But that's what was happening there.
Crete. People were, like I said, trying to… subvert and deceive and promote themselves.
And by the way, breaking a bread meeting, I've heard it described as an open meeting.
It's by open. It's open for the Lord's people to participate.
For the brothers verbally. But it's not open for anyone just to get up and say whatever they want.
You know, I think when we say it's open. It's open to the Holy Spirit.
It's open to the Holy Spirit. If the Lord puts something on your heart you want The Lord brings it up. And there's themes. When we come together and we have the Lord's Supper, there's themes that come up and And, you know, a brother gets up and shares about forgiveness. And then, well, that serves my heart to get up and share something on that. You see this wonderful…
Theme that develops because it's open to the Holy Spirit. No, I think it's a mistake.
To pre-plan and have an order of worship. Okay, well, these are the songs we're going to sing and the theme is going to be this. We come up with that ahead of time.
I think that's a mistake. I think we miss out on a blessing.
If we do that. So it's open to the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord's Supper meeting, breaking of bread. So they're in… Continuing on here.
Titus 1. Verse 10.
So now he starts to go into… Why? Why do we need men that can handle the Word of God?
It says, for there are many insubordinate There's many that are unruly.
Rebellious. People that reject any authority. And like I said, using that time to undermine leadership.
There are many like that. Idle or vain talkers.
Vein talkers, empty words. Empty words. Talk about talk without saying anything.
There's an art to that. You've seen a lot of politicians lately. They talk and they really don't say anything.
They're good at that. They practice that. You can't kneel them down and, okay, what did you just say?
But they talked a lot. So idle or vein toggles without any profit doesn't edify, doesn't lift your heart to… truth. It's just empty, doesn't do any good.
You know, 2 Peter, or Peter talks about the false teachers.
And he says that they were wells without water. They looked like perhaps there's something there, but you look and there's no water there.
There's nothing, nothing to refresh. Just vain, idle talkers.
Deceivers, it says. And continue on in verse 10, deceivers.
So my understanding is the Greek has thought of… subjective fancies, subjective fancies.
Maybe you've seen this. People sometimes they Well, you know, the Lord told me.
Well, I remember, so when I was in college, I had gotten right with the Lord and I was growing and there was some other believers that I knew from the campus and we all got together and moved in together.
But we were all very proud, all very kind of young in our faith. There was a big mixture.
There was a charismatic guy and there was me and there was somebody else and we'd start getting into these arguments.
About doctrine, about all sorts of things. And like I said, we were immature, but sometimes the argument, it would just come down to, well, you know, the Lord told me this, so you're wrong.
No, that's subjective fancies, right? No, God speaks through his word, right? He doesn't speak to me and tell me something that Apart from this.
So yeah, the Lord encourages us with his word. He speaks to us through his word, but I can't just say, well, you know, the Lord told me this, so you're wrong.
I can't do that. You know, there's people like this that share these subjective fancies.
You know, there's a very famous kind of televangelist today He's the guy that, you know, he's losing his hair, so he… would say, you know, I command you to grow, right? Grow more hair.
Well, he said that God told him that he's going to die in 2056 So that would make him like 150 years old or something when he dies. So I don't know. We'll see.
We'll see if that's true. Maybe some of the younger people can watch out for that.
So it says, so like I said, this desire to promote yourself come up with these subjective things.
Make up crazy things that lead people astray. And it says, of this group, it says, especially those of the circumcision. So Paul.
What he's saying here is that these were Jewish believers that were getting caught up in these things. They were hanging on to the ceremonial law, dietary restrictions.
They taught the Gentiles needed to become Jews first. Before you could become a Christian.
So all sorts of confusion. That was happening.
And that was something that dogged Paul, throughout his entire ministry. This is later on in his ministry, but if you remember You know, going in acts, the Jews would follow him from place to place and they were getting in his way, trying to stop
The work that was happening, try to stir up the crowds against him.
They were his adversary. And he still was dealing with that in Crete.
If you remember, there was a group of Jews that were at Pentecost from Crete.
So they probably went back. And they needed to be instructed.
In the grace of God and what they had in Christ.
Verse 11, you know, speaking of these men, Paul says, whose mouths must be stopped.
They need to stop. And the thought here is this… kind of running water just needs to be plugged up, needs to stop.
Put a cork in it, right? It's another way this is used is bridling a horse.
Putting a bridle in a horse. Now… Obviously, we don't, you know, literally do that.
But false teaching, it needs to be it needs to be refuted.
It needs to be silenced with sound doctrine. That's what it says in verse 9.
That we may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
It's replacing what they're saying with the truth. That's how we stop it. That's how we silence it.
And, you know, I think about the Lord's Supper. You know, somebody may get up and say something. I think generally we're very forgiving.
We know what the brother meant. But there's been times when maybe after the meeting, somebody got up and just clarified something and, oh, I didn't really mean that. I meant this.
This is what I was saying. So that's good. We should be doing that. Somebody says something, and we do it, I do it. I've said something that's like.
No, but we want to make sure that we're proclaiming the truth.
And we're standing for truth. And there may be a time someone will get up and say something just completely Out in left field.
And that would be our responsibility to say, no, I'm sorry We don't want to stumble the Lord's people.
You know, I value the open The Lord's Supper, and it's worth it. It's worth the risk. I think it's worth the risk.
Because something like that could happen. So it says… whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, and I mentioned this, this is like the overturning of the tables.
Whole households or families. And back in these days, believers met in homes, so it could be even assemblies. Whole assemblies were were, you know, stumbled because of it.
Speaking things, teaching things which they ought not to. For the sake of dishonest… gain teaching things that they ought not to.
This reminds me of, take a look at 1 Timothy 1.
1 Timothy 1.
Dealing with the same exact thing there in Ephesus. With Timothy and Paul is writing to Timothy and he's telling him.
And there's a lot of parallels. Between Timothy and Titus.
So this was happening there too in Ephesus. He says in verse 6, 1 Timothy 1, Six, from which some having strayed, having turned aside to idle talk.
Desiring to be teachers of the law Understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
So people were saying things that they really didn't understand about the nature of the law, about our standing in Christ.
Are the rule of law for the believer. Teaching things that they shouldn't. You're putting burdens on people.
So Paul says they must be stopped. And really, it's all because of… It says, the sake of dishonest gain. It's all for my own benefit. It's for my own personal self promotion. That's the true motive behind it all.
So then moving on in verse 12. So Paul says here One of them, a prophet of their own.
Said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts. Lazy gluttons.
So Paul is actually quoting Epimedes. A philosopher from about 600 BC.
He's quoting him. He's saying one of them, a Cretan. So this man was from Crete and he said these things about the Cretans themselves.
In fact, the word critizo means to lie. So that's their… You know, their contribution to the world is… They're liars.
And Cretan has become… You know, meaning it's a lie.
So… So what's really what's happening here is that the believers here In Crete, they were allowing the culture of their day to affect them. And they were becoming more and more like the culture that they lived in.
Rather than… being conformed to the image of Christ.
Being transformed, right? That's what was happening. They were being conformed to this world instead of being transformed and being more like Christ. They were becoming more like the culture around them.
The culture of the kingdom. That's what should characterize our lives. The culture of heaven.
That would ought to be what characterizes us.
So you may look at this and say, well, you know, Titus, wow.
Here he is surrounded by They're in Crete, surrounded by these Cretans.
And it says that they're always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons.
That must have been a hard mission field. Must have been hard having to deal with that.
But one of the things that I think is an encouragement is You know, it's a good thing that God is in the business of transforming lives.
This does not defeat the grace of God. Our characteristics, our natural sinful characteristics doesn't defeat the gospel. God is in the business of transforming lives.
He transforms these Cretans. He can even change a Cretan. Into a saint.
He can transform me. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
Take a look at, well, you don't need to turn to it, but Paul also, you know, Corinth had its own issues.
And he was talking about how the… The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. And he goes through this entire list of all these sins.
Worse than what we're reading here in Titus. About these men. And he says there in 1 Corinthians 6, 11, and he says, and such were some of you.
This is what you were like, but you were washed. You are sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And by the Spirit of our God. He transformed these people.
And that's what I was. But when I put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm washed. I'm cleansed. I'm sanctified. I'm justified. By in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God.
And you may say, well, you know, I'm not that bad. I'm not a Cretan.
I'm not that bad. But, you know, the Bible says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Doesn't matter who you are. We all have that sin nature in us, that desire to go against what God says. We have that rise up in us.
And if we just come to him and say, Lord. I'm a sinner. Forgive me.
I thank you that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and he rose again.
Thank you that I can be saved. I can be forgiven. I can know new life.
He can save a Cretan, right? You can save a Corinthian. You can save us.
And then, so Paul is quoting this, like I said, quoting this uh philosopher Epaminides.
And then he says, verse 13, this testimony is true. He's like, yep, that's the way they are.
I've seen it myself. That's what they are. That's what they're like. And then he says… Therefore, rebuke them sharply.
That they may be sound in the faith. Rebuke them sharply.
So there was a time and a place. For a sharp rebuke.
You know, other places you know Paul talks about rebuking people gently.
In humility, correcting those who are in opposition. If God perhaps will grant them repentance.
So sometimes… It's sharp. Sometimes it's in humility coming with a soft You know.
Soft answer turns away wrath, right? The Lord can give us wisdom on what's needed in the situation.
Rebuke them sharply. That they may be… Sound in the faith. See, these people aren't beyond hope, right?
There's Titus rebuke them that they can grow and be corrected and move on and be healthy in their faith.
Verse 14.
Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of who turn from the truth. Now, this was something that was happening there in Ephesus as well throughout all the Greek world, people were getting saved. Gentiles were getting saved.
And there were Jews that were saved. And sometimes the jews They wanted these Gentiles to be kosher. They wanted them to continue with some of these ceremonial law keeping. They wanted them to basically be Jews.
And be Christians. And there was a lot of Jewish fables So there were things that were non-canonical rabbinical teachings.
There were things that weren't from the Bible. But had been added to the tradition of the tradition of the Jewish life.
Superstitions. Commandments of men, it says.
So actually the Lord Jesus, I was actually just reading in my daily reading in Mark 7 recently.
Let's take a look at Mark 7. There are some examples.
Of these things that were happening. Mark 7, verse 1.
I'll just pick out a few things here.
So the Pharisees saw that the disciples were eating without washing their hands.
So like, well, yeah, they should probably be washing their hands, right?
I tell my kids, wash your hands, right? Before you eat, you should anyway.
But this was more of a ceremonial washing. And the… Pharisees saw them eating with unwashed hands and they found fault, it says in verse 2. It says verse 3, for the Pharisees and all the Jews Do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition
Of the elders. When they come from the marketplace… They do not eat unless they wash.
And there are many other things which they have received and hold.
Like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. So it says There's many other things like this where they would tell the Gentile, well, no, no, no, you need to do this, you need to do that. You need to be circumcised.
You need to do all these other things. And, you know, Paul is saying, and the Lord Jesus is saying, no.
That is not it. These commandments of men, they're distracting you from following the Lord Jesus.
Don't get caught up with these things. There's another example here. He says.
In verse 9, Mark 7, 9. He says, all too well you reject the commandment of god That you may keep your tradition. They were putting tradition even higher than God's commandments.
So I don't have time to get into that, but if you want, just read that.
Through verse 13. But that's what was happening. Their traditions were becoming more and more important.
And what God wanted and what he said became less and less important.
That will cause you to turn back to turn away from the truth.
And build a self-righteousness in you. And Paul is against it, and he's telling Titus that's why you need to stay away from this.
Stay away from these things. And then in verse 15. Verse 15.
Now, all the things that I was talking about. Is the context of this verse.
People like to take this verse out of context. And apply it to things that it has nothing to do with.
To the pure, all things are pure. Well, you know, I'm a Christian and I love Jesus.
You know, it's okay for me to indulge in some things because I'm pure and everything I do is pure, right? I can look at those magazines. I can watch some of those things. I'm okay because I'm pure.
All things pure. No, that's not what it means. And people will use this for that.
That's not what it's talking about. What it's talking about, just everything I was saying about the Judaizers, right? Gentiles need to become Jewish first, circumcision.
Dietary restrictions. Ceremonial washings You know, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are pure.
And you don't have to worry about any of those things.
Food will not defile you. You can eat a lobster tail with bacon and pork chops. You can eat all that stuff. It's not going to defile you.
To the pure, all things are pure. I can eat anything I want with dirty hands. I can do that.
I might get sick, but I'm not spiritually defiled.
When I do that, if I do that. But then it goes on, it says… But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.
You know, if you don't know the Lord Jesus, you don't know him as your Savior.
You can follow all of these laws as best to your ability. You can not eat pork for the rest of your life.
You can do all the ceremonial washings. You can get circumcised. You can do all these sorts of things.
It says, nothing is pure. These things won't help you. None of these things will help you if you don't know the Lord Jesus.
Nothing is pure. Well, if I just do this enough, if I just do that enough.
If I go to church, if I… follow the rules as best I can.
No, that's not how it works. It's not how it works. But to those that are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.
Following those restrictions and ceremonies. Cannot purify you.
It doesn't do you any good. We're almost out of time here.
And it says, but even their mind and conscience are defiled. So you may look good on the outside.
You're following the rules on the outside. You're doing what you're supposed to be doing on the outside, but on the inside.
On the inside it says Your mind and conscience is defiled.
Your mind, your thoughts. And your conscience is that inward reality.
Inward reality. Real quick, conscience, it means with knowledge.
With knowledge. So when you hear something about the truth. You now have a conviction or you're with knowledge you know what you're supposed to do now. It's like when you're driving a car I was just doing this the other day. I'm on a, you know, I'm going 70 miles an hour. I was going about 75.
On a 70, right? But the road got narrower and smaller and then the speed limit down went down to 50, right?
But here I am driving at 75. I don't see the sign.
So I'm driving 75. I have a clear conscience.
But as soon as I see that sign that says 55, I am with knowledge now.
And now I know, ooh, that whole time, now I've had this like guilt from the past now that rushes back. I've been striving this whole way going too fast, right? That's our conscience at work.
With knowledge. And what happens is if we continue to go against our conscience.
Convicts us if we go against that. We keep pushing that back, pushing that back, it becomes defiled.
And it doesn't work like it's supposed to. So… our mind and our conscience are defiled. Verse 16, they profess to know God But in works they deny him.
So what really matters here. The life doesn't reflect what what they say. They profess one thing in their life to something completely different.
They are just like those Though in the Old Testament, all those things that would be defiled.
That's what they are, right? That's what they are. They profess to know God, but in works they deny him being abominable.
Disobedient and disqualified For every good work unfit.
For any good work.
So with that. What are we holding on to?
What are we holding on to? We're holding on to the truth, to the Word of God?
Wanting our inward lives to match up with what we say.
Or do we hold on to that outward appearance and just try to make sure that we're We look good on the outside.
We need to turn to him. Turned to him today. And I love this. Hebrews 9, one verse to your left and we'll be done.
Hebrews 9. In verse 14.
You know, we need to be… cleansed on the inside.
And then it says here in actually verse 13, for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies For the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God.
Cleanse your conscience. From dead works to serve the living God.
When you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he doesn't just cleanse your outward, right?
He cleanses what's inside. That's what matters. So let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you for your word.
We thank you for this letter to Titus. Oh, Lord, help us to be those that are that are handling the Word of God, handling the sword of the Spirit, able to correct Lord, we help us to stand for your truth in this culture that we live in. Help us to be a reflection of you.
Of the kingdom and not this world, Lord. We just look to you now and we thank you for this The rest of this day now before us.
We commit it into your hands in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen. I believe the meeting is dismissed.