After the kindness and love of
our God, our Savior, appeared. Loving kindness. All right, Titus
chapter three now. Titus three. Let's ask the Lord
to bless this portion of our understanding. Our Heavenly Father, we are Sinners, unworthy earthen vessels, creatures of
clay, dust we are, dust we shall return. But we are your clay. Thou art the potter. We are the
clay. We are your dust. We are your
creatures. We hope we are your people, sheep
of your pasture, whom you have sent the good, great, and chief
shepherd to save, to call out the sheep by the gospel, by his
voice. We come tonight, Lord, having
heard that call and wishing to hear it again. to hear from you
your word, hoping, praying, asking you that you will speak to us
through the pages of this book, through the words written. May
this come not just in word only, but in power and the Holy Ghost
and much assurance. And may we become followers of
Christ. And may we be made new creatures
like this passage speaks of. the glory of God. We ask that
you be with us tonight. Meet with us. Lead us and guide
us in all truth. Send your Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
the Teacher, Spirit of Truth, to lead us into this portion
of Scripture. Leave us not to our own understanding.
Leave us not alone to ourselves tonight, but gather with us.
Meet with us. Meet with your people now and
feed us. Hand feed us. make us to lie down in these
green pastures. In Christ's name we are met together
for the honor and glory of God the Father. Amen. Chapter 3, verse 8. I may sound like a broken record.
Well, I say I, but it is not me. The scriptures continually say
Or talk about these things, things. Verse eight, read it again. This
is a faithful saying. These things I will that thou
affirm constantly. The aged apostle is telling the
young preacher of the gospel named Titus, the young pastor,
these things I will, God wills, through the authority given to
him, that thou affirm constantly or declare constantly that they
which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.
These things are good and profitable unto men. Then turn over to 2
Peter, just over a few pages to 2 Peter. Keep your place in
Titus. We'll return to it in a moment.
2 Peter chapter 1. Look at this verse 12. Peter
says, now that was Paul's writing before. Now this is Peter who
says, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in
remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be
established in the present truth. Put you in remembrance, always
in remembrance of these things, though you know them. These things, Paul says, these
things are all he had written before. He wrote to the Philippians
and he said, to write the same things unto you, to me, is not
grievous. These are the things, Paul said,
I rejoice in. and the things we rejoice in.
To write the same things is not grievous. For you, it's safe.
And the same things were written by the prophets and the other
apostles. We just read Peter. Let me read you this portion
in 1 Timothy 4. You can turn if you like, but
I'll read it anyway. 1 Timothy 4, Paul is writing
to another young creature. And he says this to young Timothy,
if you put the brethren in remembrance of these things, you'll be a
good minister of Jesus Christ. You put the brethren in remembrance
of these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto
you have attained. And then he said in verse eleven,
these things command command and teach these things. So, he told Titus, out now in
Titus. The things he told Titus, we
looked at last Wednesday night. Last Wednesday night, he said,
these are things which become, Titus chapter 2, verse 1, things
that become sound doctrine. Things that adorn, verse 10,
adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. And then
Sunday morning we looked at the things of God, didn't we? The
things of God or concerning God, his character, his ways, his
salvation, his word, and things that God had prepared for them
that love the true God, things of God. So we're going to continue
here in Titus chapter 3 and look at some more things. Let's look
at these things, OK? Things that are good and profitable,
he said. And he tells me, the young preacher
or old preacher, that these things I am to affirm or declare or
assert positively, command these things constantly. And these
things are good and profitable things, all right? Let's look
at verse 1. Titus 3 verse 1. He says, put them in mind to
be subject to principalities and power, to obey magistrates,
to be ready to every good work. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and power and obey magistrates. That is, we
are to be subject to our. Government. Civil authority. And so for chapter two verse
nine he says to workers or servants back then. He says to workers
that there to be obedient under their own masters and to please
them well in all things not answering or talking back. We work for
the company so we're to be company men. Right. Company gave us a
job working for the company. It's in our best interest that
the company prosper. Right. If the company prospers
we keep the job. No. So it's in our best interest
to be a company man. A company man or woman. He tells
us there to be faithful employees and now he tells us to be good
citizens. good citizens. And you know I sometimes I make
light of. I do it all the time I make light
of those who boast of their morality you know. And they're being. Fine upstanding citizen. And
I'm making light of those who hold that up as a righteousness
of theirs you know those who. claim and boast of that is, you
know, righteousness and in pride talk about, you know, God got
to accept me because look at me. I'm moral. I'm a good citizen
and so forth. I make light of it in that sense. However, these things are good. I don't make light of morality. I wish there was more of it.
I wish everybody was moral. I said once before, I wish our
world was like Andy Mayberry. I wish you was. I wish Rocky
Mountain was like Mayberry, R.F.D. I really did. Everybody good,
moral, just kind, sweet, you know, just come on in, old, sit
down, and take your shoes off. Ain't be fixing something. Don't
you? You know, a lot cleaner and nicer
place. Good. These things are good. They are good. You can stand. That's your favorite program,
too. Admit it. Believers should be the best
citizens. They should be. I believe they
are. Not should be. I believe they
are. I believe believers are the best
citizens, the best workers. If I was going to hire somebody,
I'd hire one of you. And if I wanted a neighbor, I'd
want one of you all. Believers are not anti-establishment. Believers are not rebels. Believers
are not anti-government, not anti-anything, except anti-false
gospel. Look over at Romans chapter thirteen
with me. Romans thirteen. Romans thirteen. And this would do away with all
this, all these sects, s-e-c-t-s, sects that go under the name
of Bible and the Word of God and take their little beliefs
and so forth and run wild with them, that are contrary to what
the Scriptures teaches, like the, you know, Davidians and
all and all this that's going on in our day all this militia.
I've been reading about all these militias and most all of them
are religion. You know Bible they all believe in Armageddon.
They're going to cause it. They're going to be right in
the middle of it. But this does away with all that all that stuff
in the name of religion. Look at Romans 13, verse 1. Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers
that be, and he's talking about any authority, all authority. And I remind you, Paul is writing
in the Romans And Roman government, oh my, there was never a more
tyrannical form of government than Roman, they talk about Roman
tyranny. Slaves, you know. And Paul, what
is he saying here? Be subject unto, yes, those powers. Those powers. There's no power,
he says, but of God. Joe, the king's heart's in the
hands of the Lord. Whoever's put into office, we
believe God's sovereign, don't we? Well, He is. And whoever's
put in a place of authority, especially to rule over God's
people, count on it. God put him there. God put him there. Your boss,
he's a rotten, she's a rotten thing, you know. She's so...
Oh, she's... She's just a rough one to work.
God put you under her or him. Yeah, he did. It's that you might
show forth your testimony. That's the reason. There's no
power but of God. You see that? Romans 13. Well,
there's no power or authority but of God. The powers that be
are ordained of God. And that ought to make me relax
even. Well. That ought to make me relax
and not worry about our you know who gets elected president. Of
government. Vote. You know do your duty. But whoever gets elected. God
put them there. Right. And it'll be all right
with me. Verse two, whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, that means the authority, that means the
boss, whoever, the teacher. Young people, you listen to me?
There's not very many in here, Andrew and Hannah. That's it. Whosoever resisteth the power,
that is, the authority, resisteth the ordinance of God. That's
your teacher. God put you under the very teacher
you have, or teachers. And they that resist shall receive
themselves damnation. Rulers, verse three, besides
rulers are not a terror to good works. And who was it that said,
who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which
is good? Peter said that. If you do what's right, then
nobody... If you do your job, Steve, nobody's
going to give you a hard time anyway, are they? Huh? No. But to the evil that's who this
is lawful it's the sluggard it's a fellow who's trying to get
by with as little as he can or trying to do as little as possible
as a fellow that hates the boss. I remember. We had a. One of our members of Jim was
a foreman on the railroad down at the roundhouse work on the
locomotives and Jim believer. A brother, a dear brother. And
I could just go on and on about Jim right now. At any rate, he
was a foreman. He started out as a machinist,
Steve. He was a machinist working on
locomotive. And he got promoted, he thought. At any rate, he changed the color
of his hat from black to white. And those men, just as soon as
he put on that different colored hat, they hated him. Talk about him behind his back.
I heard him talking about him behind his back. Good old Jim,
until he got to be a foreman. And you know, Jim, Jim was a
conscientious worker. He was when he was a machinist,
and then when he got to be a foreman, he was a, he made everybody work. He just insisted, staying that
they work. Oh, he was talking about hating
him then. Oh, they hated him then. They sure did. Oh, my. Well. And there's another scripture
talks about that we're to obey not only the good boss, but the
bad one. The kind, not only the kind,
but the unkind. All powers are of God. That ought
to make our job situation just a little more tolerable. Shouldn't
it? It ought to. God put them there. All right.
And he says, verse four, he's a minister of God to thee for
good. You may not think so, but he is. It's doing you some good. Somehow or someway. Somehow. All right. So that's what Paul
says to Titus. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and power to obey magistrates, ready to every
good work. Be ready to every good work.
Now I stand rebuked. I really do. I'm able to admit
when I'm wrong and, you know, I hope I mature. Deborah, now
that we're 40. Everybody did know that Deborah's
40 now, didn't you? Now that we're 40, we ought to
know something. We ought to have learned something
by now. I've learned a few things. I
have a lot more to learn. It will take me forty more years
to learn a few more things. Right, Charles? Where are you?
But I stand rebuked. I really do. It says, Be ready
to every good work. Be ready to every good work.
There are many worthwhile, profitable humanitarian efforts that go
on. out there in our society that
are worthwhile and worth helping out and doing. There are there
many good and worthwhile and profitable things right. The
proverb speaks about doing good to the poor and so forth. Many
times he that lendeth to the poor lendeth to the Lord. It
says And right here it says, Be ready to every good work.
Whatever you see that appears to be a good work, a good, a
worthwhile venture or effort, it's a good thing to put your
hand to. And I don't want to make light of this. Those things
are good. Those things are good. That's what he says there, isn't
it? That's what he says there. Be ready to every good work. And verse 2, they say, speak
evil of no man. Put them in mind. Speak evil
of no man. Not a tale-bearer, not a gospel,
not vindictive. Guard people's reputation. Yeah,
everyone. Speak evil of no man. Be no brawler. Brawler, ready to fight, or ready
to argue. That's tough, isn't it? Aren't
these things tough? I called a fellow on the phone
today, called a company on the phone. They were asking about
a part. And the fellow was one of these fast-talking, know-it-all,
obnoxious, you know, what do you want that for? You don't
want that. Yes, I do. I want just, do you have this
part? Well, I wouldn't do it that way. I said, I'm not asking
you to do it. heart, you know? And so on and
so forth. And he was just rude with me
over the phone. Well, finally, sure, he hung
up on me. I thought, I sat there and gripped
my teeth. You know, all the enamel is about
gone on some of my teeth. Gripped my teeth, and I thought,
I'm going to call that company back. I'm going to ask for the
superintendent, the owner of that company, I'm going to get
that fellow's name, and he's going to lose his job. You know,
all those things are running through my mind. I'm going to
get him. Who's he hanging up on me? Have you ever done that? Y'all not guilty of that? Ed
was mad, and I'd already put him out of business. Don't tell
me how many Jerry, you answer the phone, no telling how many
calls it from. Maybe I was ignorant about the
thing. I don't know. He treated me like it. At any rate, I didn't
want to be treated like that, and I got mad, and I wanted to
do something about it. But I had just read this. I had
just read this. Stan, I was reaching for the
phone. Don't be a brawler. Leave him
alone. Leave him alone. Call somebody
else. So I just called another company.
And that guy was pretty nice to me. Pretty nice. He talked to me decent. Well,
don't be brawler. Don't be ready to fight. Drop
a hat. You know, that was the old man, wasn't it? Gentle. Be gentle. Be gentle. I thought about Peter
and the boys. Peter, when I think about Peter,
you know, he was so outspoken and he was so ready to, you know,
he took that sword and cut. I just picture Peter as being
a fellow about your size and about as ugly as, I mean, about
as rugged as you, you know, just some rugged fisherman that's
just ready to take on the world. Don't you know how tough it was
on old Peter, you know, going through putting up with everybody,
trying to—the Lord, Peter, turn your other cheek. Peter, turn
your other cheek. Turn your other cheek, Peter.
It's tough on him, wasn't it? He'd give us more grace. It's
going to take grace, isn't it? He'd give it. Ask for it. He'd
give it. Don't be brawlers, but gentle. Showing all meekness. under all men, meekness. Four,
here's the reason. Here's the reason, verse three,
we were just like them. We were just like them. We ourselves
also were sometimes foolish and disobedient, deceived, serving
different lusts and pleasures and living in malice and envy
and hatefulness. This is This is just describing
the natural man and the everyday common person you meet with.
Those guys, those men that you deliver to, Joe, give you such
a hard time. Put it over there. That was you, wasn't it? Before
the Lord was merciful to you. Merciful to you. Chose you out
of the rest of your old scallywag. Didn't have to. You're just like
them. Hateful. See that? Full of hate. A fellow just worthy to be hated.
Wasn't anything lovely about us, was it? Hateful. Full of
hate. Deserved to be hated. And hating everybody else. And
wondering why they hate you. But, verse 4, but, after. But, after. I like the buts. Don't you, Nancy?
But, God. But, after. But after... You know, a believer should...
is... A believer is a good example
of before and after. The grace of God. Every believer
is a good example... I'm thinking... God takes pictures
of before and after pictures. Look at what he was before. Look
at what he was before. I got a hold of him. Now look
at him. Look at him. Different fellow, isn't he? Different
fellow. before and after every believer
is a good example before and after the grace of God. He says
after. And here's the change after the
kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appears. The
kindness and love of God our Savior toward us appeared. And Paul put it in a feat to
the Ephesians a little more And a little more clear language,
he said, the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. The exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Well, kind Christ has been to
us. What do you mean kind? And even
kinder, our God has been and is so very kind to us, isn't
He? We ought to respond in kind to
others. We who deserve wrath and condemnation,
we who deserve condemnation, instead we get kindness. We who still deserve wrath and
condemnation from God, we get kindness. He's kind to us. We who deserve the anger and
hatred, we deserve God to hate us. Don't we? We deserve for God to hate us.
We who deserve the hatred and the anger and the wrath of God,
instead we get love. Don't we? After the love and
the kindness and love of our God came to I love this passage
of Scripture, 2 Samuel 7, verse 9, I believe it is, listen. Verse
7, 19, he says, when Nathan came to, Nathan came, here's the background,
Nathan came to David and just reminded David of where God took
him from. and where God had put him now.
David was on the throne, and all his enemies were vanquished, and David was on
the throne. There was peace in Jerusalem,
and David was at rest, and he had those that loved him around
him, and everything was just fine. Nathan came to David and
just told him, just reminded him of where God brought him
from. And he said, Thus saith the Lord, I took you from the
sheep coat, and made you ruler over Jerusalem. I took you from
following the tail end of lambs, sheep, sitting on the backside
of nowhere, and made you the king in Israel. And just on and
on he went on talking about the kindness of God toward David.
And David said this. Here's David's reply. Here's
what David said. Is this the manner of man? This is not. This is not the
manner of man. Oh, Lord God, is this the matter
of man? No, but it's the manner of our
God. Those who deserve condemnation get kindness. Those who deserve
hate get love. Not the manner of man, but it's
the manner of our God. who's kind and gracious and loving
and should be the manner of God's sons. Look at, oh, we could dwell
on this, couldn't we? Verse 4 says, the love of God
our Savior. Look back at chapter 1, verse
3. Chapter 1, verse 3. I'll remind
you. Chapter 1, verse 3. Put them
in mind a bit. He hath in due time manifested
his word through preaching which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God our Savior." Who? Paul, I thought you were an apostle
of Jesus Christ. I am. He's God our Savior. John, I thought you were an apostle
of Christ. I am. He's God manifest in the
flesh. God our Savior. You know what
John said in 1 John 5? Verse 4. Titus, my own son of
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ our Savior. Chapter 2, verse 10. Adorn the
doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Verse 13. Looking
for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. Is Jesus Christ God? Then tear out the book of Titus
if he's not. Right? Tear out John 1 if he's not.
Tear out 1 John if he's not. Tear out the whole book of John,
the gospel of John, if he's not. Is Jesus Christ God? If he's
not, then we're yet in our sins. We're yet in our sins. He's the
greatest imposter who ever lived, the greatest blasphemer who ever
lived. Is Jesus Christ God? Yes. And I quote Isaiah twenty-five
nine all the time. Lo, it shall be said in that
day, Lo, here is our God. We've waited on him. Here he
is and he'll save us. God our Savior. That's Jesus
Christ. He's God and he's our Savior. Verse five. Look at this. Oh, I love this verse. Verse 5, It's all according to
his mercy, not by works of righteousness which we have done. That is,
he has saved us. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done. Not that he looked down to see
who was worth saving. Wonderful sinners. The worst. And Paul says, Christ came into
the world to save sinners and who I'm the chief. And he said,
I'm a pattern of how God saves. He saves the worst. He doesn't
look for the best, Joe. He looks for the worst. He doesn't look for the highest.
He looks for the lowest. Christ came down here and said,
now what fine fellow can I say? No, he said, what poor Gutter
snipe. Can I say, look, there's a woman
plagued with seven devils, a harlot on the street. I'll save her.
Boy, I'll get more glory out of her. That's how he saves. Right? Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. We don't have any. All that God
saves, they didn't have a righteousness. And that's how he saves them.
He gives them on. He gives them his righteousness. Mercy. Isn't that what that says? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. How? By the washing of regeneration. That's the blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. And renewing of the Holy Ghost,
that's the washing of water by the Word. Paul talks about it
in Ephesians 5. which he shed." Notice who's
doing all this? Somebody said, we don't do anything
in our salvation. The only thing we do is we do
the sinning. God does the saving. Verse 6,
"...he shed, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Savior." He did this. An object of God's salvation
is totally passive in this thing of salvation. Totally passive
in this thing of salvation. God comes calling. God comes
washing. God comes renewing. God comes
saving. Let me read this verse to you.
The men and I were reading it in the study before the sermon.
He said, I am salt of them that ask not for me. I have sought of them that ask
not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not." Now how is someone found if somebody's
not looking for him? Well, that means he comes to
you and puts himself right in front of you and reveals himself
to you. Right? Who are you? He says,
I'm the Christ. We weren't looking for him. I
wasn't. Everybody in here who claims to be a believer, you'd
have to say this, wouldn't you? I wasn't looking for God. I wasn't
seeking God. I wasn't interested in these
things of God. Huh? Were you down on your knees begging
and praying and reading the Bible when the Lord suddenly says,
you're saved? Huh? No. I mean, when you did come to
church, you came for all the wrong reasons. came to please
mom or please your husband or wife or whoever, you know, right? To bring your children or something
like that. But God, but after the kindness of God and love
of God our Savior appeared, not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy he has saved us, by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which
he shed on us abundantly. Through how? Through your faith. No, through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is our salvation. And it says, verse 7, being justified
by his grace. Being justified by his grace. It doesn't say shall be. Does
it, John? and say, and you shall be justified
someday by being justified by his grace. Being justified. Listen to this, Acts 13, 39. By him, all that believe are
justified from all things, from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. By Him, I say. Remember that? By Him. By Him, I say. By who? Doesn't say Him and me. By Him, I say. We are justified,
are justified from all things. Romans 5, 1. Therefore, being
justified. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. And some of you love this verse.
Well, all of y'all love it. As he is, so are we in this world. As he is, so are we in this world. How is he? Holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in God's sight. Accepted, yea, seated with the Father, as He
is, so are we in this world. Now, being justified, not shall
be justified by works, no, and really not by faith. That comes after grace. That's
a gift. Faith is a gift. Faith isn't
what justifies us, that's the response of justification. grace. Here it says, being justified
by his grace, doesn't it? By his grace. And all those whom
he predestinated, he called, whom he called, he justified. Past tense, all those whom he
predestinated before the world began, chosen people, he called
by the gospel. What's their response? They believe. They believe, and they're justified
by faith. Well, it all started by His grace,
that one. See, this justification process
all started by His grace. His grace. It's all by grace.
And even that faith is by grace. All right, read on. Justified
by His grace, we should be made heirs. And what do we talk about
Sunday? Ha ha. The things that God prepared
for them that love Him. We just, we tried, Nancy, but
we failed. Because I hadn't seen. Ear hadn't
heard. Neither had I been at the heart
of man and of things. God, join heirs with Christ. I tried before, and I'm going
to try it again. But heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Heirs, join heirs with Christ, and all that that means. That's
what we have. Verse eight. This is a faithful
saying. A faithful saying and these things
are a true saying. In other words, everything you
said is true. All things are written or all
scriptures are given by inspiration of God, he said to Timothy. And
all of this is faithfulness. It's faithful to God's character. It's true to God's character,
true to his words. It's true. It's God's word. And
these things I will that thou affirm constantly." Especially
this thing about grace. Affirm constantly to these sinners
that this thing's about grace. Is that something you want to
hear over and over again, Joe? Do I need to keep talking about
this grace over and over again? Yeah? OK. All right, I will. He said, affirm it constantly.
What? You're justified by His grace. Not by works of righteousness. Affirm this constantly. John
will say it by God's grace as much as possible. Affirm it constantly. Affirm it. Fix it firm in John
Davis's mind and heart that it's not by works of righteousness,
which he had done, but it's according to God's mercy that he had saved
us. Oh, John needs to hear that,
don't you, John? I need to hear that. So affirm it constantly. And affirm this constantly, that
they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain
good works. Be careful to maintain good works.
These things are good and profitable unto men. Good works. Good works. Good and profitable to all men. The fruits of righteousness are
sown in peace of them that make peace. Right? Right. Verse 9. But avoid foolish questions. We get a lot of those, don't
we? Avoid foolish questions, unrevealed
things, secret things, hypothetical questions from your religious
co-workers. Fawkes talked about oppositions
of science, falsely so-called. Avoid it. Foolish question. Turn
the subject. Turn the subject. Something's
wrong. Genealogies. Genealogies. Don't get caught
up. In other words, you work with
religious people. And they're not believers. They're not Christians. And they're
not taking up with Jesus Christ. Are they, Barbara? They're not
taking up. Oh, they're good. They believe on Jesus. But they're
not taking up with Christ. It's sad. It's funny, but it's
sad, isn't it? They believe on Jesus, but they're not taking
up with Christ. They're taking up more with plagues
and horses and, you know, what have you. in the foolish questions
are genealogies and about tribes and you know tribes. Lost tribe. One of the lost tribes of Israel
came to America. You know who that is don't you?
Mormons. That's all we're taking up with
people. Tribes. Lost tribes. Races and histories and so forth. The Trail of Blood. Even Baptists
you know are taken up. Genealogies. foolish questions,
genealogies. Turn the subject. Turn it to
Christ. And they'll either, you know,
either God will give them a ear to hear or they'll leave. They
won't ask you any more questions. You know what Christ did, Joe?
They asked Him lots of questions, didn't they? What about divorce?
What about this and that and the other? Right? What about marriage in heaven?
Remember that? Bunch of foolish questions, didn't they? Remember
they asked all the questions? Finally He asked the questions.
What did He ask them, Terry? What was the question he asked? What
think ye of Christ? That's the question he asked.
What think ye of Christ? Huh? What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? He said, son
of David. He said, why did David call him
Lord? After he asked that question, Ed says that they all left and
nobody asked him any more questions. Try that, Barbara. When they
come up to you and ask you some off-the-wall questions, say,
I don't know about that, but what do you think of Jesus Christ?
Who is He? Is He God? Is He Lord? Is He sovereign? Did He save? And they'll either run, turn
tail and run, or else God might teach them something. Right? And it says contentions
and strivings about the law. Oh boy. Legalists and, you know,
they want to talk about this and that, foods and drinks and
ceremonies and days and Sabbaths and so forth. Paul said in one
place, he said, they desire to be teachers of the law and they
don't understand what they're saying or wherein they affirm.
He said they don't understand anything about the law and they
don't know what they believe about it. That's what Paul said. And Paul
was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, a doctor of the law. Paul knew
it more than anybody. And Paul said they, and he didn't
run into one person that knew anything about the law. He said
they're ignorant. They're ignorant of the law of
God. Going about to establish their own righteousness by the
law. He said if they knew the law, they wouldn't desire to
be under it. They'd run to Christ if they knew the law. That's
what he said. Well, he says to us, be gentle,
God. Be gentle with them. in meekness
and so forth. Avoid, though, these foolish
questions. Don't get caught up. In other words, don't get caught
up in all this talk about, you know, these things. That's all
they've got to talk about there. And they've got their books and
so forth all in order, you know, what their denomination believe
in. Let's talk about what Scripture says about Christ, about God,
God of the Bible, about us. And read on, and he says, they're
unprofitable in vain. Verse 10 and 11, a man that is
unheretic at the first and second admonition rejects, knowing that
he that is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned
on himself. Now this could apply in several
ways, but it goes along with casting your pearls before swine. You know, we're to speak to people
as much as possible. Uh, Jude, I think it talks about,
uh, you know, deal gently. Others say with fear, have compassion,
make a difference and so forth. Deal gently and meekly and kindly
with people and say what you, God gives you wisdom to say and
all that. But if they reject it, thumbs down, hands down,
first time. And then it says the second time.
So when you heard the gospel first time, Nancy, you rejected
it. Didn't you? First time you heard, didn't
you get mad? Yeah, you did. You know, most of you did. Everybody did, in theory. Got mad. Now, I don't believe
that. I don't believe the Bible teaches that. In other words,
you rejected it. Until God taught you and said,
no, no, wait a minute, Nancy, this is the gospel. But man's
second admonition Rejected. You reject him. He subverted
the Senate. He's condemned of himself. Our
average twelve and thirteen get Paul asked for some personal.
Request has some personal request here in a verse fourteen. And
fifteen I let hours also our people. Learn to maintain good
works. And my margin says profess honest
trades as you're saying that. Paul talks a lot about working
with your hands. Good, honest days' labor that
cannot be condemned. He talks a lot about that. The
whole Scriptures do. Every man learn to study, to
be quiet and work with his hands and maintain and profess honest
trades and so forth. And this is where he started
out by saying, you know, subject to principalities and power and
ready to ever do good work and do a good job and do a job that's
worth doing. Not underhanded or vain thing. Well, verse fifteen. All that
are with me, salute thee. Paul had several people that
followed with him or followed him and Silas and Timothy and
Luke and others that went around with him, and he says they greet
you. Greet them that love us in the
faith, and grace be with you all. Amen. All right. I hope that was proper. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for your words. It's sweet to the taste. It's like a refreshing drink of water. It's like honey to the taste. It's good wine. Good wine. Well refined. We thank you for
it. We thank you for it. We thank
you for some understanding of it. We preach in part. We know
in part. But we thank you for what we
do know and what you have revealed. It's not by works of intellect
or study that we have done. According to your mercy and your
grace and according to your Holy Spirit who revealed these things
unto us, we thank you, Lord, and we ask for more. You said
to him that half more shall be given. We ask for more, Lord. We ask that you would make us
good stewards of the grace of God that we have received. Let
us learn these things well. Instill them in us. Let us be
doers of the word, not hearers only. O Lord, by your Spirit,
by your power, by your grace, plant these things within us.
these principles within us and let them bring forth fruit to
thy glory and the good of all about us. In Christ's blessed
name, we've met together. Amen.