Titus chapter 3. Let's begin there in verse 3
and read down through verse 7. Paul gave this as a reason for
us not speaking evil of men and
being submissive. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, and 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 renewal 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. Here in verse 3, it's a short
summary of what we were by nature and how we were by nature. And these sins This foolishness,
this disobedience, the servant of divers lust, all of these
things originate in the heart. The Lord Jesus said there is
nothing that comes from without a man that enters him that can
defile him. Everything we take in to our
body goes out of the body and sends nourishment to the body.
But He said that which cometh out of a man. That is what defiles
a man and he gave a long list of things that come from the
heart. Now listen to this. Out of the heart of men proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murder, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lust, an evil eye, blasphemy, Pride and
foolishness. All of these things come from
the heart of a man. And that's what defiles the man.
Some of these things, and maybe most of these things, and most
people, you and I know, never reach the surface. Thank God
for that. But it's still there in the heart,
isn't it? It's hatched there. It's conceived
there. It is born there and it lives
there. And it lives there. And so often
with that rising to the surface and showing itself in evil deeds. But our sins are like monsters. They are just like monsters.
They are in our heart of all kinds of sins. That is what the
Lord Jesus said about the heart where these things originated
at. Now somebody asked the question, and people are always asking
questions like this. If this is so, if the heart of
people is really this bad, then why don't more people understand
that? Why don't society understand that? Why don't your relatives
and my relatives understand? If the heart is this bad, why
doesn't our government recognize it? Why doesn't these social
workers recognize it? And why aren't more men talking
about it and maybe being more humble about it and seeking to
do something about it, seeking to remedy this awful, awful condition
of the heart? Well, the heart's that bad. The
heart's that bad. The Lord Himself tells us that
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Who can know it? If God doesn't
bear witness to our goodness, it's not because He would not.
He's just not a mean God, is He? He would not. He cannot. He just cannot because He has
to tell the truth about what we are. So if all of these things,
if this is the way we are by our very nature, if verse 3 describes
us this foolishness and this disobedience, and this serving
divers lust and miracle and living in pleasure. If these things
are true about us and our heart's this bad, why doesn't more people
recognize it? Let me give you some reasons.
And the Lord said about the heart, He said the heart, the whole
heart is sick and the whole head is faint. from the sole of the
feet to the top of the head. There is no soundness in it.
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, not being smoothed over
with oil, are closed up. That is the way the heart is.
The wicked are estranged from the wound, aren't they? They
go astray as soon as they be born, the Scripture said, speaking
lies. And everywhere the Bible testifies
of that, that there is not one good There's not one that doeth
good. It's impossible for an unsaved
man to do anything that's good before God. And the reason is
his heart is bad. He's got a bad heart. Now, if
it's that way, why doesn't the world recognize it? And you talk
to your relatives. I was talking to a lady just
the other day, a neighbor friend of mine, and she told me, she
said, you know, she said, really, I'm not a bad person. She's a
lost person. She said, I'm not a bad person.
And I quoted Jeremiah 17 and 9 to her. I said, you are a bad
person. God judges you to be a bad person.
Your heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Did she receive that?
I don't know. I don't know. Talk to your relatives
and your neighbors and see if they know that, understand that.
They don't. And why is that? Well, our text right here tells
us why society, why lost people do not recognize the condition
that they are in. The first one here is because
they are foolish. That word means ignorant and
without understanding. Does man understand how wicked
their heart is? No, because the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. There is foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. Everywhere in the Word of God,
God bears witness to what we are in our hearts. Why can't
man understand that? Because he's foolish. He has no understanding even
to know himself. Now, ain't that amazing that
we're born and we live and we don't even know ourselves? Secondly, Disobedient. He is disobedient. He refuses
the testimony of God which he has heard. How many times did
the Word of God say about the Jews, You will not. You will
not. If another come in his name,
you will receive him. But you will not come to me. You will not come to me. We will not have this man to
reign over us. Are you the Christ? Tell us plainly.
He said, If I tell you, you will not believe. It's just flat-out
rebellion, isn't it? Just flat-out rebellion. Disobedience
sometimes is not an ignorance. Disobedience sometimes is willful.
It's just flat-out rebellion. Thirdly, it's this in our text
here. They don't recognize the truth
about themselves because the Bible says we were deceived. We were deceived. All the ways
of man are clean in his own eyes. And you just ask him, he'll tell
you that. Solomon said, Most men will proclaim every one his
own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. Why do men
proclaim the goodness that they don't have? They're deceived. I want to show you a verse that
I think proves this better than any place else. Put you a little
mark there in Titus and turn over to 2 Kings chapter 8. 2
Kings chapter 8 and verse 5. 2 Kings chapter 8 and look here
in verse 5. Verse 7. 2 Kings chapter 8 and verse 7. Let me just read this account
to you and look how this man was deceived as to his sin and
what he had the potential to do. Look in verse 7. And Elijah
came to Damascus, and Benadad the king of Syria was sick. And it was told him, saying,
The man of God is come hither. And the king said unto Hazel,
take a present in your hand, and go meet the man of God, and
inquire of the Lord by him, saying, What shall I recover of this
disease? So Hazel went to meet him, and
took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus. 40 camels burdened, and came
and stood before him, and said, Thy son Benedad, king of Syria,
hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?
And Elijah said unto him, Go say unto him, Thou mayest certainly
recover, howbeit the Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely
die. And the prophets settled his countenance steadfastly until
he was ashamed, and the men of God wept." Elijah wept. And Hazael said, Why weepest
thou, my lord? And he answered, Because I know
the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel. Their
strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt
thou slay with a sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip
up their women with chaff." What an awful thing to do! And you
read the history of this man, he was somewhat of an honest
fellow, a pretty good fellow. He was like the general over
king of a serious army. And here this prophet is saying,
ìHereís what youíre going to do. The Lord showed me what youíre
going to do.î And look what he said in verse 13, ìEhazel said,
ìWhat? Is thy servant a dog? that he
should do this great thing. And Elijah answered, The Lord
hath showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. So he departed
from Elijah, and came to his master, who said unto him, What
saith Elijah to thee? And he answered, He told me that
thou shouldst surely recover. And it came to pass on the morrow,
that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread
it on his face, so that he died, and Hazel reigned in his stead. And you know what he did? Just
what this man said he would do. I'm not that bad a fella. I'd
never do those things. You know there's the seed in
the natural heart of every evil that could ever be imagined to
do. It's there in the heart. I wonder if David ever dreamed
that he would kill one of his friends murder his friend and
have a baby with his wife and lie about it. I wonder if Solomon
ever dreamed in all his wisdom that in his old age he would
marry strange women and they would lead him astray from the
Lord and he would build idols to their gods. Peter never dreamed
that he would deny the Lord three times, did he? How can we do
these things and never dream that we would do them? The heart
is deceitful above all things. Deceived. And that's why every
man will proclaim his own goodness. His heart has deceived him to
how bad it is. It's bad, isn't it? Look back over in our text again
at what he said in verse 3. And this explains why men, our
text itself explains why men don't understand the desperate
condition of the natural heart. He said here, we were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, and look here, serving divers'
lust and pleasures. Serving divers' lust and pleasures. You know what lust will do. You
know what fleshly lust will do. You know what sinful pleasures
will do. It will blind the heart. It will darken the understanding.
John Bunyan said where it goes unchecked, where lust and pleasures
go unchecked, it binds the feet, ties the hands, stops the ears,
and blinds the eyes. Man can't think where lust and
sinful pleasures rule their heart. Lust and pleasure will enslave
a man, but there is no lust worse than religious lust. There is
no lust worse than seeking and lusting after the honor of men. Boy, that is what the Pharisees
lusted at. He said you will seek the honor
of men, honor of God, but you will seek the honor of men. They
lived to be honored of men, didn't they? And there's no worse pleasure
than delighting in one's own self-righteousness. Sometimes
it's lust of open and profane sins, but other times, boy, it's
religious lust. We looked at that last week,
didn't we? That rich young ruler that came to the Lord Jesus,
why wouldn't he submit to Christ? Lusting after his riches. But
that Jew, why wouldn't he submit to Christ? He took pleasure in
his own self-righteousness. So there's your lust and there's
your pleasure. And hatred, hatred here is the
last thing, living in malice and hateful and hating one another,
hating God, hating Jesus Christ, hating the church, hating the
people of God. No one will ever come to the
knowledge of the truth about himself or Jesus Christ as long
as hatred. fills his heart. It is impossible
for a man to be saved. It is impossible for a man to
know the truth while his heart is full of hatred, isn't it?
Hatred. Hatred. The Lord said, This is
the condemnation, that light is coming to the world. And men
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.
Every one that doeth evil hates the light. Neither comes to the
light. As long as the man is ruled by
hate, as long as his heart's full of hate, he'll never come
to the light. He'll never see himself as he really is and his
need of a Savior. So that explains that. This text itself explains why
man, why society don't see themselves as the Bible describes them because
they're foolish. They're deceived. They're full
of hatred, serving divers lusts and pleasures. Why do we spend
so much time on things like this? And we have. We've spent two
or three weeks now on this one verse. But why do we do that?
Why is it so important to study these things and to understand
these things? And sometimes I think I just
do it to the point it gets almost monotonous and boring. But there's
a reason we do this. And let me give you three reasons
why we need to understand texts like this better and put it in
its proper context as we do here tonight. First of all, for this
reason, that we may better know ourselves and understand ourselves,
what kind of people we really are by nature. We need to know
that, don't we? It's so important that we learn,
what was I when I come into this world? How did I really live
in my heart of hearts? And as we come to understand
this as we ought to, it's no wonder that there's a hell. And it's no wonder that so many
people are there. And it's a wonder why you're
not there and I'm not there. Because here's the kind of people
that we are. Can God remain just and holy
if He doesn't punish such sinners as described here in verse 3? Men are not amazed that God suffers
them to live and hold them up instead of immediately casting
them down into hell. They are not amazed at that because
they think too highly of themselves and too lowly of God. Society
needs to be confronted with the truth of verse 3, that it will
stop thinking so highly of itself and so lowly of God and His holiness
and His justice. We've got people today that blame
God all the time. They blame God for everything.
Blame God from His election all the way up to damnation. They
blame God. God can't do that. That's not fair. That's not right.
And men blame God because they've never seen themselves as they
really are. When we begin to see that, we'll
clear God of any and all charges. So that's the first thing. Let
us consider just a minute what the Scripture says about the
foolish. What is it about the foolish?
We don't want to pass over these things and say, well, I was foolish,
okay. But listen to what the Bible
says about the foolish. It's bad. Nowhere in the Bible
of all the times this word foolishness is mentioned, not one time is
it said in good light. It's always in bad light. Psalm
74, listen to this. Remember this, Lord, that the
enemy hath reproached. O Lord, the foolish people have
blasphemed thy name. Remember how the foolish have
reproached thee daily. Foolishness is a reproach to
God. And we were foolish. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. And every word in the New Testament
you read about the foolish is always bad. Remember the man
that built his house upon the sand, and the rains came and
swept it away, and the great was the fall of it? That man
was called a foolish man. Remember the five virgins that
took no oil in their lamps, and at midnight the bridegroom come
and they didn't get to go in? They were foolish virgins. And
Romans chapter 1 said, Neither were they thankful, but became
vain in their foolish, vain in their imagination, and their
foolish hearts were darkened. And yet Paul said to us, we were
sometimes that way. We were that way. Disobedient. Listen to what the Bible says
about disobedience. Ephesians chapter 2, we often
quote this. In time past you walked according
to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom we all had our conversation." We were disobedient. But listen,
he goes right on in the fifth chapter to say this, "...let
no man deceive you, because of these things, these sins, the
wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience." We were disobedient. multitude of disobedient people
have perished in their sins. The wrath of God has come upon
them. This word deceived, listen to it. Isaiah 44, He feedeth
on ashes, a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot
deliver his soul. He is deceived in his heart and
therefore he cannot deliver his soul. How many people have lived
and died deceived? And yet, you and I were as just
as deceived as they were, and they perished. It's dangerous
to be deceived, isn't it? Dangerous to be deceived. Serving
lust. Listen to this. This is in our
text too, Psalms 81.12. My people would not hearken to
my voice, speaking of natural Israel. Israel would none of
me. So I gave them up unto their
own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsel. Listen
to what James says about our lust. Every man is tempted when
he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And when lust hath
conceded, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death. All that is in the world, James
said, is what? Lust. Lust of the eyes, lust
of the heart, lust of the flesh. Lust. And this world passes away
and the lusts are up. And yet you and I lived in that,
didn't we? Pleasures. This is what the Bible says about
pleasures. Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. They
who live in pleasure are dead while they live. And lastly,
this malice and hateful and hated one another. The Bible says the
carnal mind is enmity against God. God is not slack. He will not be slack to them
that hate Him. He will repay Him to His face. Boy, it's dangerous to hate,
isn't it? Dangerous to hate anybody, but especially dangerous to hate
God. I had a young man when my daughter was a senior in high
school. He came to pick her up for a date, and I knew that he
was a religious person. And I sat in there talking to
him about the Lord. And I was questioning him some,
and I said, you know, have you ever known, do you remember,
I asked him something like that, but here's what I said to him,
that you hated God. You know what he said? Oh, if
I had thought that, that would scare me to death. He said, I've
never hated God. If I thought I ever hated God,
that would scare me to death. That ought to scare a person. But
there's nobody in here in their natural state that did not hate
God. God-haters we were, weren't we? Enmity against God. Some people say, well, I never
was. Well, you're just deceived. You don't know your own heart.
You don't know your own heart. We were all of these things for
which things sake the wrath of God came upon multitudes. and He did not spare them. They
have fallen into the hands of an angry God and yet you and
I who are no less guilty than they, we lived our lives tempting God
to destroy us. Every day we lived in sin we
were tempting God to destroy us. Now that is the point that
needs to be emphasized. That's why we study these Scriptures
and take time to examine them in the context. Every day a lost
man lives, he tempts God to destroy him. I need to be destroyed. I am disobedient. I'm deceived.
I'm foolish. I hate you. He's crying out for
justice to damn him. Well, he lives. This needs to
be understood, doesn't it? That's the first reason we study
these things. We need a better understanding of our former state.
Secondly, we need to better understand what we were that we may marvel
and appreciate and be thankful that we're not that anymore. Aren't you thankful that you're
not that anymore? He said we were sometimes foolish. Aren't you glad that He's made
you wise unto salvation. We were sometimes deceived. Aren't
you glad that He's undeceived you, that He's taught you the
truth? We're not that way anymore. In time past, you walked according
to the course of this world, but no more. Such were some of
you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You're justified. We know that we've passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. Old John Newton,
bless his heart, he said three things. He said, I'm not what
I ought to be. I'm not what I ought to be. Oh,
I ought to love the Lord more. I ought to believe Him better.
I ought to follow Him closer. I'm not what I ought to be. And
he said, I'm not what I'm going to be. I'm going to be like Him
someday. But he said, thank God, I'm not
what I was. Aren't you thankful, brothers
and sisters? You're not what you were. And this is why we
need to study these things. There's a change that's been
made. You're not like you were. And
when we begin to understand better what we were, then we can see
more of the drastic essential change that has been wrought
in our heart. There is no doubt that a miracle
has been wrought in my heart when I consider how I used to
be and what I used to be. Aren't you glad for this change? Aren't you glad? essential and
permanent, and permanent change. It ain't going to be like the
sow that goes back to the water in the marsh. She wouldn't change,
would she? She's the same old sow, but you're
changed. Thank God you're a new creature.
You've been washed. You've been regenerated. You
live in the hope of life eternal. What a change! And thirdly, and
just as importantly, We need to better understand these things
that we may be better able to discern the cause of such a change
in us. What do we attribute this change
to? Why has the darkness passed and
the light now shines in our souls? We were sometimes darkness but
we're now light. How did this change come about?
What was the cause of it? Paul tells us something right
here that wasn't the cause of it, didn't he, in our text. Not
by works of righteousness which we have done. And he doesn't
say false works, but works of righteousness, true works of
righteousness. If somebody stands up and says,
well, here is what caused the change. Here is where the change
was wrought. I repented. And I believed and
I sought the Lord and I called on the Lord. That's not what
brought the change. That's the change itself, isn't
it? Repentance and believing and
coming and calling on Him, that is the change. That's a vital
part of the change. What caused the repentance? What
caused the coming? What caused this vital change?
It was nothing in you at all. It was nothing in you at all.
We can't take credit for the first thing, can we? What does
the Apostle Paul attribute it to? Look here what he says and
back in our text. Look in verse 4. But after the kindness of God,
that's what it's attributed to, the kindness of God. It wasn't
nothing in you at all. The kindness. God is so kind,
isn't He? Brothers and sisters, it's a
difficult thing for me to believe. The more I think about this,
the more difficult it is for me to believe these things are
in God. I believe Gail is kind. I've experienced her kindness. But me and her are equal. We are both just two fallen human
beings. But for there to be something
in God, for there to be such kindness in God that would look
upon a wretched, hell-deserving sinner like me and like you,
and be kind to me, and save me from my awful condition, that
is more than my heart can even believe. I wonder sometimes if
I believe there is such kindness in God. Did you ever think of that? And sometimes the more I see
of my badness and my wretchedness and my felons and faults, the
more I'm amazed. Is there really this much kindness
in God? So first thing is kindness. God
is kind. He's kind. He's kind to everybody. He causes His Son to rise and
gives people all of these things. But this is a special kindness,
a covenant kindness, if you will. He's kind, a saving kindness.
And look at this. This is amazing. But after the
kindness and love of God our Savior towards man appeared. The love of God. The love of
God. I believe in the love of God,
don't you? I believe God is love. A love that passeth understanding. A love that knows no height or
depth or breadth or length. The love of God in Jesus Christ.
That everlasting love for His people. And where does it first
appear? When He saves us. When He reaches
down and delivers us from this dreadful, hell-deserving state
that He has found us in. that we just mentioned in verse
3. It's attributed to the love of God. Nobody can find anything
with God saving who He's pleased to save because it goes back
to His love. His love. Wayne said Sunday,
I think it was, that one of these but-Gods We love so much, and
we find them, we love them. And Paul was telling us there
in Ephesians 2 how we walked according to the course of this
world, and we're children of wrath by nature. But God, who
is rich in mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved us. He's a given God, isn't He? God
so loved the world that He gave. And He so loved us, He gave us
life. He so loved us, He gave us forgiveness
for all our sins. It's attributed to the love of
God. And he goes on down here in verse
5, "...not by works of righteousness which we have done." If we've
done anything for God's glory and with right motives, it's
because He's worked it in us. And look at this, but according
to His mercy, He saved us. His mercy. You know one of the
things I love about mercy? One of the things I love about
mercy is what the world hates about mercy. It's discriminated. It'll save one and pass by another
one. That's what makes it so glorious,
isn't it? That's what makes it so humbling. Here I am just as
deserving of hell as the man who went there. And yet he let
him go and showed him no mercy and had mercy upon wretched me.
Why did he do that? I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. One man said we know that God's
going to be just. There's no doubt about it. He
must be just. But I don't know if He's going to be merciful.
We only know that when mercy goes into the cemetery and opens
up the grave and brings the person out when He saves them. That's
when we know He's been merciful. What do we attribute our salvation
to? Mercy. I obtain mercy. Isn't that wonderful?
That's wonderful. And the more we see our wretchedness,
the more mercy is going to be magnified. 7, that being justified by His grace,
being cleared of all our charges by His grace, we should be made
ours according to the hope of eternal life. By grace are you
saved. By grace. Is it really grace
that saves us? Is it pure, free, sovereign grace
that saves us? You know, everybody from the
Free Will Baptist to the Pentecostal to the Church of God say that
until you start examining. And when they start examining,
then they say, no, not that kind of grace. Not that kind of grace.
Grace is there if we'll seek it. Grace is there if we'll do
this, or grace is there if we do that. I know we seek grace,
but we didn't seek it at the beginning. Grace is unsought
for. Grace is only sought for after
grace comes and puts the desire and need in our hearts to seek
it. The change did not come because we sought it. It didn't, did
it? Every cause of this change is
coming to us and changed us. It is found in God. All of it. And I can't believe for a minute
If this is in your heart and you realize this, I can't believe
for a minute that you're going to go out those doors and live
a life that's dishonored to God who saved you. I just don't believe
you will. But on the contrary, I believe if we're thinking that
it was us, something in us that caused the change, I think there
will be rotten spots in our lives. I think we'll live dishonest
lives and we'll be lifted up in pride. But it's when we see
that God is the cause of our being saved from this awful,
awful state, and He shed all of these things on us, the Bible
says here, through Jesus Christ our Savior. It's always through
Him, isn't it? We'll look at these things a
little bit closer, Lord's willing, next week.