Read verse 8 with me. It says, This
is a faithful saying of these things I will that thou affirm
constantly, telling the young preacher, Titus, telling me,
that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain
good works, these things. are good and profitable unto
men." I said, this is a faithful saying, not only what he said
before that, that it's not by works of righteousness which
we've done. It's according to His mercy He saved us. He shed
on us His mercy abundantly through Christ our Lord. He's justified
us by His grace. What a faithful, wonderful, true
saying. It gives great hope. hope of
eternal life. But, and, these things, he said,
I would that you affirm constantly. Keep reminding people of good
works. Chapter 1, verse 1 says, he says,
speaks of the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of
the truth which is after Godliness. My pastor in his commentary said
this, He said every believer should and will live a holy and
godly life with good works which God has ordained that we should
walk in. That's what he's done. We're created in Christ Jesus
unto good works. And like our Lord being conformed
to his image, it says of our Lord, he was a man who went about
doing good. He was a good man. And everything
he did for everyone was good. And that's why God saved people. This is the theme of this epistle
like the book of James. Look at chapter 2. He said here
in chapter 2 verse 11 and 12, Grace of God that brings salvation
and to appear to all and teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly
lusts the righteous and godly in this present world, verse
14, that Christ who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity and purify unto himself peculiar people. And as we noted, as the days
become increasingly evil and wicked, this untoward generation
of God's people become very peculiar, a people zealous of good works,
these things speak, exhort. He says, affirm constantly. In
chapter 3, where we left off, verse 8, he says, I will that
you affirm this constantly, that they which have believed in God
be careful to maintain good works. These things are good, they're
profitable, profitable. The whole letter is to Titus,
the young preacher. And though it's applicable to
all of us, every believer, but it's especially written to preachers
and pastors and teachers to hold fast to faithful words, sound
doctrine, he says, to exhort, to teach, to preach the word
as he told young Timothy. All right? Here's some things
he says to avoid. Verse 9, avoid foolish questions. Look at 1 Timothy. Not very far,
1 Timothy 1, I'm sorry, 1 Timothy 1, verse 4. 1 Timothy 1, verse 4, he says
the same thing to young Timothy, a preacher. Neither give heed
to fables and endless genealogies which minister question, rather
than godly edifying which in faith, faith which is in Christ. 2 Timothy 2, same thing, tells
another preacher, verse 23, 2 Timothy 2, 23, foolish and unlearned
questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife, arguments. Foolish questions, what are foolish
questions? There's too many to list, and I'm told to avoid them. But I went to get some eggs from
a woman. She's religious, I know she's
religious. So I went to buy some eggs from her, and we started
talking. And she didn't like what I had to say, and she said,
where'd Kane get his wife? Out of the blue, you know. He said he married his sister
now. But you know, what's the point?
She thought she was going to stump me. Foolish question. What does that matter? Does that
matter? Does that matter at all where
Cain got his life? And so on and so forth. All we need to know is written.
Scripture says the secret thing It's none of our business. Besides, if God wrote everything
in books, the scripture says the world couldn't contain the
book. All the information we need is written down in the scripture. A foolish question, foolish questions
of fools don't deserve answers. There's a proverb, Proverbs 26,
4 and 5, says this, and we need the wisdom To know who to answer
and who not to answer. Proverbs 26, 4 and 5 says, Answer
not a fool according to his father. Don't answer the foolish questions. Avoid them, Paul says. Lest you
be like unto them. You're going to get caught up
in their foolish questions. Those questions, there's one
vital question. Do you know what that is? You know what that is. What think
ye of Christ? Remember, they asked him many
questions. What if a man is married seven
times, end of judgment, who's going to be his wife? And on and on it went. They asked
him questions. Until finally he said, I'm going to ask you
a thing. The Lord. Whose son is he? What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? They said, David's son. He said,
well, if he's David's son, why does David call him Lord? That's the question. Who is Jesus
Christ? Why did he come? What did he
do? Who did he do it for? Did he do it for me? That's the
question. And we need to get to that issue.
That's the issue. We need to get there as quickly
as possible. Avoid foolish questions. Answer not a fool according to
his father, lest you be like unto it. Genealogy, look at verse
9. genealogies, and he told Timothy
that in 1 Timothy 1.4, he said, avoid endless, endless genealogies. There's no end to genealogies. Now, people just by nature are
so proud of their heritage, so proud of their family name and
their heritage, that they search endlessly for these genealogies.
And I have to admit, I was curious. They offered Ancestry.com. They offered a one year trial
thing for $20 and I looked it up. I looked up my ancestors
and you know most Americans want to be Irish. They want to trace
their ancestors and most if you live below the Mason-Dixon you
are Irish. Your heritage, this county you
know. But it's not noble heritage,
people moved here so they could make whiskey. Not noble heritage
at all. We trace our family tree, we
find out that many of them hung from trees and right from the
sun. I like what George Whitfield,
well George Whitfield once said, that's the name of George Whitfield
perished from the earth. Let the name of Jesus Christ
be praised. They came to John the Baptist
and said, who are you? He wouldn't even give his name. Only one
name. All our surnames are going to
be gone, people. All our surnames are going to
be gone. And we're all going to be found under Jesus Christ,
not God's people. He's our husband. But religious
people do this. They try to trace their genealogies. There's a group called Landmark
Baptists. Brother Dan Parks came out of
that. And others we know came out of
that. Landmark Baptists. They claim that they can trace
their heritage all the way back to John the Baptist. Or at least
trace their baptism. They were baptized by a Baptist,
by a Baptist, by a Baptist, by a Baptist. I'm serious. And if
you don't, if you can't, you weren't baptized right. That's
foolish, isn't it? Foolish. The so-called Mormons
are called Latter-day Saints. They call themselves that. And
they get that from Ezekiel 37, which talks about the stick of
Joseph and the stick of Ephraim. And here I am talking about that.
I'm supposed to avoid it. Do you know Jesus Christ? Are
you found in Him? That's the question. Avoid these
questions, these endless genealogies and contentions. Verse 9, contentions. Don't contend. One time our Lord
said Pharisees were offended. The disciples came and told Him
that. They're offended. He said, leave
them alone. I'm going to strive with pot
shirts. Let them strive between themselves. When it's time for
that, I'm looking for people who want to know the truth. Our Lord said it one time, if
you will do, any man will do the truth, he'll know the doctrine.
And here's the doing the truth. Here's doing the work of God.
Our Lord said, he that believeth on the Son. This is the work
of God that you believe on the side. So, contentions and strivings,
first line, about the law. Avoid it. Avoid it. Seventh-day Advent, so-called.
Oh, my. They're very strict on the law.
If they ask you to talk to one, here's what you should say. Here's
what you should say. They don't argue. Just say this,
I'm not under the law. I'm under law to Christ, whatever
He says I want to do, but I'm not under the law of Moses. No. Christ has redeemed me from
that curse. Get to the issue. Tell them if
you're under the law, you're under the curse. And if you don't keep every jot
and tittle, you're going to perish. Get to that issue. Avoid these
endless questions. You know the Jews have I made
one count how many it was, I looked it up, and for what it's worth,
Google says 613 blogs. 613, I think there's more than
that actually. He said in verse 9, it's unprofitable,
it's vain, it's endless, it won't satisfy. Vain and endless, avoid
these things, and find a true speaker. There's another proverb
I think about all the time. It says, go from the presence
of a man when thou perceivest not in him words of understanding. In other words, if someone just
wants to argue, don't do it. Don't do it. You'll be just like
him. And you'll end up getting mad.
I've got a problem with that. I've got a problem with that.
I'm getting mad. All right, look at verse 10. Now he says, A man that is an
heretic that the first and second admonition reject, knowing that
he that is such a heretic is subverted. He's not converted,
he's subverted. The opposite of converted. He's
sent, he condemns himself by subversion. attitudes, actions,
spirit, and what he does and says and how he acts. Now a heretic,
he says, reject this person. A heretic means much more, the
word itself means divisive, disunion, a person who brings divisive
doctrine, a person who gathers disciples after himself, personally
brings in false doctrinists, much more than anyone who's of
a divisive attitude and spirit. You see, God's people, this is
a fact, God's people see eye to eye. Yes, they do. Our Lord said that in John 6
45, they shall be all taught of God. All of God's children
are taught of God. And they believe the same God
and the same truth. Yes, they do. There's no argument
there. No argument. And those gray areas, we just
don't get into arguments about that. We shouldn't. Okay? But this is talking about a person
who's divisive in their spirit and attitude, which grieves the
spirit, which quenches the spirit. And we can do that. We're all
guilty of that at times. 1 Corinthians 1. Go over here. 1 Corinthians 1. We need to guard
against this. We need to be careful. Very careful. Pray that the Lord will not make
us strive, but strive together, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 1 Corinthians 1. The church at
Corinth. It was so full of trouble, it
was a large congregation. It was a Greek church and full
of people from all over the world, different kinds of
people. It was rife with troubles and divisions and schisms and
so forth. Paul immediately addresses it
in verse 10, 1 Corinthians 1, 10. I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all seek the
same thing, that there be no divisions among you, that you
be perfectly joined together in the same mind, the same judgment.
It hath been declared unto me, he said, I heard, my brethren,
by them of the house of Chloe. Somebody came and said to Paul,
they're fighting. They're divided. That there's
some tension. Now here's what some of it was. Verse 12. Yes, I say, every one
of you say, I'm a Paul. I'm of Apollos. Well, I'm of
Cephas or Peter. Well, I'm of Christ. They were
choosing up sides. They were preferring one preacher
over another. I like this preacher. I like
this. This is not a ball game. with individual players. Can
you imagine how foolish? Paul said in verse 13, is Christ
divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name
of Paul? He immediately said, not me you need to be extolling
and expounding and talking about on my side. He's on the Lord's
side. 1 Corinthians 3. Look at verse
3. 1 Corinthians 3. This is so childish, so carnal. I like this fellow. I like that
fellow. My, my. Same message, isn't it? Verse 3. He said, you're
carnal. Fleshless. Whereas there's among
you envy and strife and division. Are you not carnal? Walk like
men of this world, like the people of this world? A believer can
hold grudges and be bitter and full of envy and strife and division. Can a believer do that? Well,
not for long. We can. But if we do, he said,
Act like you don't even know the Lord. Act like the people
of this world. And we need strong admonition of it. A heritage.
After the first admonition, Paul's admonishing them and us. Don't do this. That's so foolish,
so childish. What's wrong with you? And he
does it in love. But chapter 11, 1 Corinthians
11, here it is again. 1 Corinthians 11, verses 18 and
19. And 19, in the second letter
to Corinth, was full of trouble too. Some of them turned against
Paul. And he said he had to speak like
a fool, had to defend himself, which he didn't like to do. The
first Corinthians 11, verse 18, it says, First of all, when you
come together in a church, I hear that there be divisions, judgments,
I mean, schisms among you. And I believe it. He said there
must be heresies among you. Our Lord said so. That they which
are approved might be made clear among you, that you see clearly
who it is. It's the peacemaker, the striving
for the faith, and not divisive and disunion, but united. one accord, one spirit. There
must be heresies. You see that? Among the second
Thessalonians. Look at one more. Look at one
more. Second Thessalonians, chapter
3. And this is where we get our
command on how to deal with people that cause trouble. You sure don't want this. Oh
my, dread it, dread it, dread it, dread it, that it happened.
2 Corinthians, I'm sorry, 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 6. Now we command you,
brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw
yourself from every brother that walketh disorderly. It's out
of order. And look at verse 11. We hear, Some walking among you
disorderly, working not at all, busybodies. Now, them that are
such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with
quietness, just keep your mouth shut, and work and eat your own
bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary
in debt, well doing. And if any man obey not our word
by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him,
that he may be ashamed. That's the first admonition.
Count him not as an enemy, admonish him as a brother. But now that's
the second one. Tell him we're not going to have this. Oh boy. That's what he tells
us here in Todd's statement. That's the second. God's the
author of peace. And where there's envy and strife,
he said, there's confusion. Our children are confused. People
of the world are confused. They love it. They're strife
and envy. So, oh boy, that's what he tells
us to do. And here in our text, Titus 3,
he says in verse 11, know that he that is such, heretic, divisive,
subverted, perverted, corrupted, sinneth, He condemns himself
or herself by her own attitude, bad spirit and attitude, by their
actions, by their words. Now remember, James, remember
this, the peaceable fruit of righteousness. The results, the peaceable results
of righteousness in a righteous man, a just man, a Christ-like
man. The peaceable fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace by them that make peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. They sow peace, not strife. Peace. Let's get along. I've been reading
about Spurgeon and a great, what's called a downgrade controversy
where he took a stance of truth against error that was creeping
in the church. And yet in all of that, though
he disassociated himself with Baptist of the day and said I'm
not going to have any part with this. Unbelief and errors crept
in. I'm not going to have any part
with it. And yet he was so kind. He was so strong and firm that
he said he didn't say anything evil about people. He was a peacemaker. Peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Right? I've got a lot of time. I've got to
go on. Now he said in verse I love this, how he ends this. I'm going
to send Artemis unto thee, or Scythicus, and be diligent, to
come unto me, to Nicopolis. A word was sent
by Curia. These epistles were sent by people,
and they were hand-delivered, and they wrote a special letter
to the church, he gave it in the hand of a faithful man. You
need to see this, Ephesians 6. He would give it into the hand
of one of his brethren, a faithful man who he knew he would have
during his life. He'd lay down his life delivering
that letter. And this letter to Titus, this
letter to Ephesians, Oh, the letter to Ephesians was sent
by this same man. Look at it. Ephesians 6, verse
21. Paul's in prison, and he sent
word to the church of Ephesus by this man, that ye also may
know my affairs, and how I do Tychicus, a beloved brother. A faithful minister of the Lord
shall make known to you all things whom I have sent unto you for
the same purpose, that you might know our affairs, and that he
might comfort your heart. And he went on to say, Peace,
brethren, love with faith from God the Father. Grace be unto
you all. Look at the inscription at the
very bottom after verse 24. Written from Rome unto Ephesians
by Pentecost. He's the one that took dictation.
Paul had bad eyesight. He wrote it down, sealed it up,
and Paul said, now take this to Ephesus. Yes, I'd love to. And he did, and he delivered
that. These were men, Tychicus, I'll go back to this text. Artemis, Tychicus were faithful
men that the church loved back then that Paul sent to minister,
to preach to, and deliver this letter to. What a good illustration
that is, huh? What if I said, Brother Bruce
is coming next week to bring the Word of God to you. Be sure
you take care of him. Brother Mike will be here next
month to bring a letter from the Lord to you. Make sure you
take care of him. That's what Paul is saying. Does
that mean something to you? Well, it did to them. Look at
verse 13. Venus the lawyer and Apollos. on their journey, bring them.
He's telling Titus to bring these two that were there at Crete.
Bring Zenus, Hilarion, and Apollos. I need to see them. And he said,
let nothing be wanted of them. Have the church pay their way. Have the church pay their way
to come see me. Zenus, a lawyer? A lawyer? Yeah, not many wise men at this
place. But it doesn't say not any. Not
many. Not many mighty, not many noble. Apollos, remember, was a mighty
man in word. And the Lord saved him. He sat at the feet of a man and
his wife. Apollos. I mean, yeah, sat at
the feet of, what are their names, John? Aquila and Priscilla. He
sat at their seat and learned the gospel from this husband
and wife. He was an apologist, a theologian, but he had to learn. The Lord saved him. Verse 14,
let ours learn to maintain good works. Let our people learn to
maintain good works for necessary uses, but to be not unfruitful. To be not unfruitful. And then
he ends this with a salute. He said, all that are with me,
salute thee. All that are with me, salute
thee. The church here salutes you. Tell the brethren hello. And I can't tell you how many
times, how many people, I forget lots of times, I talk to the
brethren and they say, tell the church hello. Whoever it may
be, I'm talking to the times. And all that are with me, salute
thee. Well, the church at Cottageville
sent us a gift for our parking lot. The resident at Cottageville
sent us a nice sized check for our parking lot. Now that's a
little group smaller than this one. And they have needs and
they live on a budget like we do, but no. They saw in our bulletin
that we had to repay the parking lot. And this is a gift. And
I hired him a letter. It says, the church here at Central
thanks you greatly. We love you. Thanks the Lord
for you. We sent one to New Jersey, didn't
we? It came right back. That's the
way the Lord does it. Yes. Greet them, verse 15, that
love us in the faith. God's people do truly love his
people, and they love... Paul is talking here. Take these preachers and greet
those that love us. Some don't, but many do. Greet them that love us in the
faith. And he ends this with the way
he ends every single epistle written by Paul. This is his
signature. This is how you know that he
wrote... This is why I think he wrote Hebrews, because he
ends that way. Grace be with you all. May the grace of our
God, saving grace, keeping grace, restraining grace, teaching grace,
leading grace, guiding grace, presenting grace. May the grace
of our God be with you all. All of you. Amen. What a wonderful letter. Lord
willing, we'll begin next with the Gospel of John. Gospel of
John, teaching and preaching through that blessed book.