Good morning, everyone. Let's be remembering our. Loved ones who are going through different illnesses and and sicknesses and trials. We pray the Lord. Will be with them. And I want to especially let's be remembering our sister. Karina coats. Her due date is November 13th. And. So let's just be praying for her. Pray that the Lord, if he's pleased, will give her a good and safe delivery of a baby boy and that he'll bless them.

Let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we are so thankful, Lord, for all of your goodness and kindness and mercy to us. Lord, thank you for this day. This is the day that you've made. We pray that you will allow us to rejoice and be glad in it. We pray, Lord, that you will send your truth to us, that you will bless your word to us. Open our eyes and cause us to see. Cause us to see Christ, we pray.

We pray, Lord, that you will be with our loved ones that are going through trials and difficulties, Lord. This life is so full of trouble. A few days, but they're full of trouble. We need help. We need your healing touch as you see fit to give it. And we need your comfort and mercy and grace. And we pray that you'll be with your people. And we do especially pray for our sister Karina. Be with her and be with the doctors. And we pray that if you would be willing, you would give her a safe delivery.

Thank you for all life. All life comes from you. Physical life, but most importantly, spiritual life. And we pray that you will grant spiritual life to us, to our children. Lord, these children in these classes, would you please be merciful and save their souls. Save us, save them. Save this community, Lord. Bless the gospel, give us the strength and the knowledge and understanding and wisdom to declare your word and truth and bless it to the hearts of your people, we pray. Thank you for this moment, Lord. Please help us now as we attempt to worship you. Draw us near to you and we beg that you will forgive us for all of our sin. We ask all of this in Christ's name, amen.

Turn with me to Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3, we're going to pick up with verse 9. But let's begin reading in verse one, okay? Titus three, verse one. It says, put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men, For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, But according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying. In these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. verse 9, he said, avoid foolish questions. Let me just give the sense of this reading here. Avoid means keep away from, turn from, shun foolish questions. Foolish questions. The word foolish has many different definition words to describe what it means, but ultimately when you put it all together, this is what it means. Not revealed by God. Foolish means not revealed by God. Anything that God has not revealed. Some of the definitions were godless, hidden things, secret mysteries of men, secret mysteries to men, And the word questions means debates. People love to debate. People love to debate.

He said, shun man-made debates. Verse nine, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies. A genealogy is a record of descent. It's a tracing of ancestors, which many false religions like to do. Verse nine says, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law. Contentions means quarreling, fighting. Strivings is the same thing, a little more emphasized, battling, warring about the law. The law means anything established, anything received as commandment. including the Old Testament mosaic law. That's the law that God gave to Moses. You know, God gave the 10 commandments and he gave all these laws to Moses, including the Old Testament mosaic law and the New Testament moral law. That's what God gave to all the apostles. He said, avoid fighting and warring about the commandments of the Old Testament mosaic law or the New Testament moral law.

Why? Verse 9 says, for they are unprofitable in vain. Somebody says, unprofitable in vain. Unprofitable in vain. Unprofitable means, when you look up the definition, it means useless. Useless, it's unprofitable, it's useless. Vain means empty, profitless, void of truth. Unprofitable and vain? Yes, man-made disputes and genealogies and fighting with people about the law is useless and vain. It is useless and vain. Why? It's because all we're doing is missing Christ when we do that. That's the reason why.

People love all these doctrinal words, especially the man-made words. They love these. Man has got so many. They're not doctrinal words. But man thinks they're doctrinal words. Man has come up with all of these isms and ologies and all of these things that are not in scripture. They're man-made words and they want to sit there and argue these man-made words. And when you get to the end of it, they've done nothing. They have done nothing. It is useless. It's useless.

You think about the fact that for a couple of thousand years, God's people brought animals. This is what they did. They brought animals. They made sacrifices. They attended certain feasts. They observed certain ceremonies and ordinances. They went nowhere on Saturday for years, thousands of years. They went nowhere on Saturday. Why? It's the Sabbath.

And then God's apostles and God's preachers had to go to all those people. And I really want everybody to think about this. Try to dial into this. I believe this will really make some sense. Let me say all that again. For a couple of thousand years, God's people brought animals. This is what they did. They brought animals, and then they made sacrifices, and they observed ordinances and ceremonies, and they kept days, and they had all of this stuff that they were doing. And then God's apostles and his preachers had to go to all of those people and tell them, what you're doing is useless and vain. What you're doing is useless and vain. What you're doing is void of truth.

And this had to be their response. This had to be the response of the congregation. Useless and void of truth? What are you talking about? Look at the pages of the law. Does your Bible not say that? This is what God told us to do. What do you mean useless and vain, void of truth? It's written right there. That's what God told us to do. We're just trying to do what God told us to do.

Yes, but in doing all of that, you've missed Christ. That's what they told them. You've missed Christ. And if you've missed Christ, it's all unprofitable and vain. Unless Christ is in it, it's all empty and void of the truth. If Christ is not in it, there's no truth in it. And you need to get rid of it. That's what they told them. You need to get rid of it.

We right now, and I just want to interject that what I'm saying right here is one of the most important things that we could get a hold of. We right now don't slay animals. How many of you were out there wrangling doves and goats this morning? We right now do not slay animals. We do not bring animals in here. Our brethren did that for thousands of years. And we don't do that anymore. And we don't sit at home all day on Saturday, and here's the reason why.

The apostles told those Old Testament saints, you need to get rid of all that. That's our religion. What do you mean, that's our religion? I can see those Old Testament saints saying, but we have to have a lamb. We have to have an altar, we have to have a priest, we have to have an atonement of blood. And this was so foreign to them back then. We see with clear eyes looking backwards now, don't we? But at that moment in time, the apostle said to them, Christ is our lamb. Christ is our altar. Christ is our priest. Christ is our atonement of blood.

Yeah, but we're supposed to rest on the Sabbath. We have to do this. We're supposed to rest on the Sabbath. The apostle said, Christ is our Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. If anyone hears this who is striving to not do too much on Saturday or Sunday or whichever one they think is their Sabbath, you've got the wrong Sabbath. You've got the wrong Sabbath. What you're doing is unprofitable and vain and it's void of the truth. And we need to get rid of it.

If anybody is sitting at home on Saturday in the name of making God happy, because I'm going to observe the Sabbath, you need to get rid of it. It's void of the truth. It's empty, it's vain, and you need to get rid of it. The Sabbath is a person. The Sabbath is a person. It's not a day of the week. The Sabbath is a person. We rest on Christ. We rest on our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Sabbath every single day of the week.

If Christ is not our law and Christ is not our Sabbath, we are void of the truth. We're void of the truth. And everything that we are and everything that we're doing is useless and empty. It is useless and empty. It will not profit us at all. We need to get rid of it. We need to get rid of everything but Christ. Everything that's not Christ is a false religion. Everything that's not Christ is a false religion. Everything that's not Christ is a false religion. If it's not Christ, it's a false religion. It's a false religion.

The apostles told those Old Testament saints, you are missing Christ in that Mosaic Law. Again, that is so, right now, standing here, having what we have, having these scriptures, it's so easy to now look back a couple of thousand years and see, yes, that was so. That was not it. Christ was it. Them doing all of that was not it. It's so easy for us to see. Salvation was not in the blood of animals. Salvation was not in observing days. It wouldn't end that. Those apostles told those Old Testament saints, you're missing Christ in that Mosaic law. And we right now are still repeating the same thing to men and women today, and it's so foreign to people. This flesh cannot understand it. We can't see this. How could you possibly say this? But we are repeating the same thing now that they repeated then, and now we're saying, you're missing Christ in that New Testament moral law. Gotta have a dove, gotta have a lamb, can't commit fornication. You can't, you know, hate. Does this make sense? If we don't see Christ in it, we're just caught up in a useless, vain, false religion.

In the same way that the Old Testament saints needed to stop clinging to the Mosaic law, We New Testament saints need to stop clinging to the moral law. All of us need to cling to Christ. All of us need to cling to Christ, which is what all of it represented.

Hey, why are you against all those slayings of lambs? I'm not. They all pointed to Christ. They all represented Christ. Well, that's what this New Testament moral law was doing too. pointing us to Christ.

Verse 9 says, But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretic, the word heretic means a follower of false doctrine. exactly what Paul described in verse 9. He's just continuing his statement. He said, every doctrine is vain but the doctrine of Christ. If it's not Christ, it's false doctrine.

Turn over to 2 John, just before Revelation, 2 John. Verse 9, it says, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, Receive him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed. For he that biddeth him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds."

Every time the word doctrines is plural in the scripture, it's referring to false doctrine. Every time, the doctrines of devils, things like that, every time. Every time the scripture refers to true doctrine, it's singular. Doctrine. There is only one doctrine. There is only one doctrine. People say, well, yeah, but you've got all these doctrines you need to be dealing with and you need to be teaching. No, we don't need the doctrines of devils. There is only one doctrine. There is just one doctrine. It is the doctrine of Christ.

And when that has not been revealed by God to men and women, and they do not see that, and they're not happy with, and they're not satisfied with Christ, Christ alone, the teaching, the hearing, Christ alone. When they want to argue that to fulfill the scriptures and to be saved, we need more than Christ, We must add the deeds of man's flesh to Christ. If they will not hear and believe and bow to the doctrine of Christ alone, and all they want to do is war against it. War against that profitable saving truth.

This is what Paul said to Titus. He said, you're trying to argue, you trying to argue the gospel is not your responsibility. And it's not your concern. We do not argue the gospel. I'll talk to anybody. People say, you know, would you talk to me about the gospel? I'll talk to anybody about the gospel. But we don't argue the gospel. We declare it, we just declare it. And if from that declaration, God does not make a man or a woman willing in the day of his power, we turn, we move on, we continue in what God has called us to do. Like the Lord told the apostles, he said, wipe the dust from your feet and go to the next house.

Verse 9, whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed. For he that biddeth him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

You say, well, that sounds so hard. Well, that's the Word of God. And it's because the glory of Christ is on the line. And man does not have the right to bring down or alter or change the glory that only goes to Jesus Christ. Man says, well, I don't like that. Well, what he's saying is too bad. This is God's word. This is God's word.

There is one message, one gospel, one truth, Christ, the person, the work, the glory of Jesus Christ. Go with me back to Titus three. Verse 9 says, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable in vain. A man that is an heretic, again, a follower of false doctrine, someone who tries to add to the person and work of Christ, who is the only doctrine that there is.

Verse 10, a man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition, that means warning, calling attention to after the first and second warning of the certain condemnation that will come to any person who tries to add the responsibility of man to the responsibility of Christ. Tries to add the work of man to the already finished work of Christ. He said, Titus, the message is too great. Avoid them, shun them, right here he said reject, reject them.

Verse 11, knowing that he that is such is subverted, and that means twisted, turned inside out, has it wrong, is backward on it. Verse 11, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth. He sins. And I just want to make a point here that I think is a good point to make. I'm giving you all these definitions and here's the reason why. I think anybody who reads that he sinneth, we understand what that means, don't we? He sinneth.

talking to Brother Christoph in South Africa two weeks ago. And I was talking to him about something. And he wanted to respond to what I was saying. We were talking about the gospel and preaching and things like that, and he was wanting to respond, and he was trying to find the word in English. You all know he speaks good English, very, very good English, I mean, but Afrikaans is his first language. And he said, ah, he said, there's something I want to say to you. He said, I'm trying to say it. He said, the word is, you know, whatever in Afrikaans. He said, let me look up the translation. And so he looked it up and he said, okay, no, he said, that's not it. He said, that's how the word directly translates, but that's not what I mean. That's not what I'm trying to say. He said, the word is comprehend in English. I comprehend what you're saying. But he said, that's not what I'm trying to say. Okay, that's why we look up these words. It's because there was something that these men were trying to say. And I looked up the word sinneth, And this is what it means, has missed the mark. That's what it means, they've missed the mark. That's important to understand. They've missed the mark. What is the mark? Christ is the mark. Paul said, I'm pressing toward the ark. For the prize of the high calling of God, it's in Christ Jesus the Lord. I am pressing toward the mark.

Um, go to, uh, I'll wrap it up. Go to just, just go to Philippians three real quick. Verse 14 is where Paul said that, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. Christ is the mark. This whole chapter right here is perfectly declaring everything we've been saying here.

Just look at verse 1, he said, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it's safe. Beware of dogs, that's false preachers. Beware of evil workers, those who want to work the works of the flesh. Beware of the concision, those who divide. For we are the circumcision, that means God's elect, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have a little bit of confidence in the flesh.

Nope. Zero, none, no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Boy, I disputed with everybody. Touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. Man, you talk about maintain good works. That was me.

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

That's the mark. He said, this is the mark. Christ is the mark. Christ is the prize.

Back in Titus three. Last thing, Titus three. Verse 10, a man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself. Self condemned. What that means is the very things that men and women claim to be keeping in the flesh claiming that God will not be happy with you if you don't keep these things in the flesh. You see what I'm doing? You'd better copy me or else God is not going to be happy with you. They are not actually keeping it.

It is true. God is not happy with us if we do not keep his law. That's why Christ was hung on a cross to pay our sin debt. And they are not doing what they're telling everybody they're doing. They're not keeping it. And they're falling under the very category that they're trying to self-righteously condemn others in. They are unaware that they're condemning themselves.

Thank God Christ was condemned for all of his people. Everything we do just condemns ourselves. Everything we do. Even when we do something good, we are so proud of it, condemned. Everything we do, we just condemn ourselves. Thank God Christ took the condemnation upon himself. He bore the burden of it, he bore the bondage of it, he bore everything that we committed against this good and holy law that pointed us to Christ.

Bearing our sin, he condemned himself so we wouldn't condemn ourselves. He condemned himself so that we wouldn't condemn ourselves. He established, he fulfilled, he finished. And he gets all the glory. And may God teach us that. May God teach us Christ. May God teach us Christ. Lord, teach us Christ. Give us a heart for the one true doctrine of Christ.

Gabe, are you against the Mosaic law? No. You against the moral law? No. It's just useless if Christ is not in it. If Christ is not seen as the fulfiller of it, the doer of it, the object of it, Lord, set a straight course for us to Christ. Teach us to turn from everything else. Turn from everything else, Him alone. Him alone. Amen. You're dismissed.