to read from Titus chapter 1
and verse 10 through to the end of the chapter. Titus chapter
1 and verse 10. For there are many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers especially they of the circumcision, whose
mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things
which they ought not for filthy lookers' sake. One of themselves,
even a prophet of their own, said, the Christians are always
liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. wherefore
rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Not
giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that
turn from the truth, unto the pure all things are pure, but
unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,
but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that
they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and
disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. We've seen over the past couple
of weeks, past few weeks, that the Apostle Paul had left Titus
in Crete to oversee the putting in order of the churches and
the appointment of pastoral oversight, or as he calls it, ordination
of elders, not that Titus was to individually choose those
people and impose them on the congregations, that would have
been against the idea of Paul's purpose here, but that he should
establish the principles by which these individuals would be recognized
and put in place by their congregations. And in doing so, Paul makes it
clear that his principal concern, the principal concern in the
Apostle's mind was the integrity of the Gospel. And that is with
respect both to the content of the message, and the faithfulness
of the preachers. So that the two elements come
together, the content of the message and the faithfulness
of the preacher in order to bring that work of gospel power to
bear on the lives of those who hear. And in the opening verses
of this little book, the apostle calls this, the faith of God's
elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. And I think that's a very potent
little phrase. It's the faith of God's elect
and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. That is, truth that when believed
alters and converts the character and lifestyle of the believer. People can claim to believe and
follow Christ and his word, but if a man's doctrine and a man's
character do not reflect the faith of God's elect and tend
to godliness, then I believe we're justified in doubting the
veracity of that profession. When the Holy Spirit enters a
man or a woman's soul, he does not come and he will not dwell
there unnoticed. The apostle also calls this gospel
the faithful word and sound doctrine. And I want just to pause and
note that little phrase, the faithful word and sound doctrine,
which is in Paul's mind the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of
Jesus Christ is the faithful word and the gospel of Jesus
Christ is sound doctrine and it's the essence and the foundation
of our relationship with God. Sound doctrine is the foundation
of our relationship with God. It's as we understand the gospel,
as we hear and receive and believe that faithful word. that our
relationship with God deepens and our understanding is opened
and our eyes are able to see more clearly the things of God
and the things of Christ. And therefore, thinking about
that relationship as being foundational, the Apostle Paul, speaking to
the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 10, he writes, as a wise master builder. So he's saying here that as a
preaching apostle, he has the picture of the master builder. And he says, I have laid the
foundation. For other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So it's the
preaching of Christ that is the foundation of our relationship
with God. So now here in this letter to
Titus, he's instructing the young preacher to set in order the
things that are wanting to the end that the churches may be
sound in the faith. It's what Paul wished for. It's
what Paul worked for among the churches of Crete and wherever
his preaching ministry took him. and what was important then is
equally important now. May the Lord ever keep his church
and people safe and sound, founded on the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul's urgency to effect this
work was justified because of the presence of what he calls
gainsayers. Now gainsayers are people that
speak against the truth. That's what the word means. So
gainsayer is someone who speaks or says things against the truth. And the Apostle Paul recognizes
that here are people in Crete who were speaking against the
truth, the truth of the gospel of sovereign grace, the truth
of the gospel of free grace, the truth of the gospel that
Paul and Titus preached. And Paul calls them unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers. So he doesn't Mince's words,
he doesn't speak with any flowery language here. They're unruly,
vain talkers and deceivers. And they were not subject to
the rule of the gospel. They cleverly, they eloquently
convinced their hearers by subtlety and deceit. being themselves
deceived, they deceived others. And Paul specifically speaks
of the circumcision, meaning the Jews of his day. And it's perhaps not surprising
that these particular individuals were mentioned expressly. They were a besetting problem
for Paul during the whole of his ministry. and he wishes their
mouths to be stopped because of the damage that they did,
he says, to whole houses by their deception. So these were not unbelieving Jews in the sense
that they were followers of the Jewish faith that were opposing
Paul. They were people who were professed
Christian believers. And that's the problem that the
Apostle Paul had. They were professed Christians. And they blended Moses' law from
their Jewish background with the gospel that the apostles
preached. So it was a bit of a hybrid.
They weren't the Jews who followed the Judaism of the Jewish nation. They were professing believers
who nevertheless blended a legalism and a following after the laws
of the Old Testament and Moses and brought that into Christianity. They taught observance of the
law. And that was typified by circumcision. So when he speaks about the circumcision,
he's speaking about these men who had this hybrid religion. And the circumcision part of
it brings the whole of the idea of the covenant practices of
past times. And they said that this was necessary
for salvation. They said that for justification
before God, for salvation, there needed to be this element of
works brought into faith. They brought words into their
gospel, they preached and effectively created another gospel, which
was really no gospel at all because it undermined the faithful word
and the sound doctrine that Paul preached. It took men's eyes
off of Christ and it put men's eyes back on their own efforts. And it may not be surprising
that Crete was so compromised, because when the true gospel
is not emphasised in preaching, the works of the flesh find easy
access, because pride and vanity are always with us. And Paul
mentions this Christian writer who was one of their own, he
calls him a prophet, who accused his fellow countrymen of deception
and laziness and greed. And he uses that to exemplify
and characterize these false teachers. Today we might call
such preachers jobsworths, or pedants, or legalists. They were career preachers. who
brought in a set of do's and don'ts as a form of outward religion. It was, in essence, a kind of
easy believism. You do this, and God will smile
on you. God will bless you, and that
is tantamount to being justified. and they kept men and women bound
up in religious rules and regulations that hid Christ from their sight. And in making reference to the
commandments of men, the apostle is speaking of man-made standards
of righteousness by which men and women were said to be pure
or impure in God's sight, as though by doing something or
failing to do something, one can be pure in the eyes of God. The legalists, these Judaizers,
were keen to insist on all manner of commandments. But their righteousness
was mere self-righteousness. It was striving for righteousness
under law while claiming to be righteous in Christ. And Paul
would have none of this. And so he makes a bold statement
right at the end of this little passage. He says in verse 15,
unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled
and unbelieving is nothing pure. but even their mind and conscience
is defiled. They profess that they know God,
but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and
unto every good work reprobate." It's comments like this, that
earned Paul the label of antinomian among the Jews and Judaizers
of his day. And in truth, those sentiments
stir the same opposition today when they are expressed by gospel
preachers. The great question, which is
of eternal significance for us all, is what makes a person right
in the sight of God? That's the question that we all
have to answer. What makes a person right in
the sight of God? Job's friend in the Old Testament,
a man called Bildad, he asked it this way. He said, how then
can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? The point being, no one can ever
be justified or made righteous by their personal obedience to
the law. What we call Moses' Law is God's
law. It was given by God to Moses
and the children of Israel, the Jews, by God. And that law is
the highest standard of conduct ever known to man. It is a measure
of perfect obedience. and yet there is no righteousness
to be had by it, nor any justification. For Paul says, by the works of
the law shall no flesh be justified. A better righteousness is needed,
a holiness that can't be spoiled, a perfection that can't be lost,
a justification that's acceptable to God. Because it comes from
God, And such a holiness is found only in the Lord our righteousness. It comes freely, it comes graciously,
it comes mercifully to sinners, and it flows from the love and
goodness of God. And it settles upon every man
and woman chosen in eternal election, every soul sanctified in the
covenant of peace, everyone given to Christ in eternal union and
in time redeemed by Christ when he died as their substitute.
Such a holiness makes all things offered to God holy. In Christ our worship, service,
our gratitude is pure and acceptable to God because it is offered
in Christ from a new nature, from a pure heart, and from a
holy disposition. It is inspired by the Holy Spirit
and being offered in Jesus Christ, it is acceptable and pleasing
to God the Father as if our Lord Jesus Christ himself was performing
it. Even our sin, much lamented in
our own conscience and in our own souls, It is cleansed in
blood, it is sprinkled with water, it is taken away and no iniquity
is imputed to us. And yet nothing that is outside
of Christ by way of worship, service and thanksgiving by an
unregenerate soul from an unrenewed heart can ever please God or
be acceptable to Him. To the unregenerate, defiled
as they are in old nature, there can be nothing pure. What was it we read the other
day on Sunday in Proverbs? Even their ploughing was impure. Their persons, their prayers,
their worship, their offerings are all alike spoiled by sin
and all alike offensive to God. They can gather in their big
churches, they can gather with their hymn books and their prayers,
with their preachers, and there is nothing acceptable in what
they do if it comes from an unrenewed heart. They never find acceptance
with God, for nothing offered is offered by faith in Christ. To them that are defiled and
unbelieving is nothing pure." That's what Paul says. It's a
solemn fact. Without the regenerating, discriminating
grace of God, every good work, Every kind act, every religious
activity is defiled. Nothing religious is pure and
every act is condemnable. No matter how hard a man may
try to please God, without faith it is impossible to please God. Do you see the miracle of grace
in all this? Do you see the glory of sovereign,
discriminating, distinguishing grace that makes a difference
between one sinner and another? For we all have sinned. There
is no other ground but the goodwill and purpose of God. Are we not
blessed to have been quickened, converted, and brought to believe
this gospel, brought to trust in the efficacy of the blood
of Christ? to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,
and the grace of God to adorn us with every good and perfect
gift in Christ. What a prospect lies ahead for
us, brothers and sisters. Every blood-bought child of God
who rests in such a gospel. What joy is in prospect for all
who know that in Christ we are accepted. The answer to Bill
Dadd's question is, I can be and I am justified with God by
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. For such a one,
the gospel is indeed a comforting word to our soul. We may say
with the hymn writer, I have no other argument. I have no
other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. If this is your plea, you are
safe and sound in the faith. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.